Tuesday Evening

May/June 2008

The Power of Belief

Sunday a week or so ago, I visited my three year old great nephew, Gavin. I first heard him shrieking through the house in the attempt to warn us of monsters. “There are monsters in the house!” he insisted over and over again all to no avail. After both his mom and dad had words with him he finally settled down enough to invite me into his room where immediately above his small bed hung a Native American Dream-Catcher. Noting my interest in its delicate frame, he decided to explain to me exactly how this thing worked, “Uncle Bob, that’s a dream-catcher. The bad dreams come down from the ceiling and the dream-catcher snags them and then slurps them up.” And since his parents installed the dream-catcher, young Gavin has experienced absolutely no nightmares. Talk about efficacy! 100% as a result is efficacious to the point of challenging credibility, but absolute freedom from once-frequent nightmares is what this precious child reports with guileless enthusiasm. I believe his report simply because I am a strong believer in the power of belief and the dream-catcher works simply because young Gavin is convinced it works. But if he harbored any skepticism regarding its power, I suspect it wouldn’t work and the nightmares would return.

Gavin has wonderful, truth-telling parents who told him the thing would work, AND HE BELIEVED THEM! Why? Because he knew from experience that they could be trusted. The same of course is true of the 12 Steps, because if we are willing to become childlike in the sense of surrendering our implacable need to be in control to One higher than ourselves, the 12 Steps will work for us with the same efficacy the dream-catcher works for young Gavin.

While writing this piece a young man called to inform me that the 12 Steps did not work for him. “What do I do? “he asked with desperation dripping from every syllable. I paused to pray silently before answering and then said, “Begin praying again” “Why do that? I don’t believe in God.” “Then ask God to take your disbelief and turn it into a new mustard seed of faith.” I could tell he wasn’t buying my approach so I said “Look, it’s actually pretty simple, believe that there is One greater than you who wants you to be a whole person.” I asked, “Can you believe that?" He said, “Yes, I believe I can.” “Good,” I answered, “believing that is all you have to do for now. Later when you feel up to it, return to the12-Step meeting you attend and work the Steps and watch the miracles occur in your life.”

For the first time in my life I actually heard a man smiling via telephone.

Bob Lively
boblively@mac.com

Bob Lively is on the adjunct faculty of Seton Cove Spirituality Center and is teacher- in- residence at first Presbyterian Church of Austin, where he teaches on Sunday mornings.

Each month on a random Saturday, you can read Bob's spiritual message on the Faiths and Beliefs page in the Life and Arts section of the Austin American Statesman.