DO YOU BELIEVE?

By Vickey Pahnke <[email protected]>, songwriter, author, EFY speaker

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell
into a deep pit.  All the other frogs gathered around the pit.  When they
saw how deep it was, they told the two fallen frogs that they were as
good as dead.  The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump out
of the pit with all their might.  The other frogs kept telling them to
stop, that they would never get out, and that the jig was up.  Finally,
one of the frogs took heed to what the others were saying and gave up.
He fell down and died.

The second frog continued to jump as hard as he could.  Once again, the
crowd of frog friends yelled at him to stop the pain and just die.  He
jumped even higher and finally made it out of the pit!

When he got out the other frogs said, "Did you not hear us?  The frog
(reading their frog lips) explained that he was deaf.  He thought they
were encouraging him the entire time!......

Great story, huh?  There are a number of inherent lessons in this little
tale.  One is that if you believe you can do something, you're right.  I
have thought a lot about the power of belief, of faith.  Alma teaches us
that if we "can do no more than desire to believe, let this desire work
in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a
portion of my words."  (Alma 32:27) He then compares that belief to a
seed that can grow. President Spencer W. Kimball once said that "in faith
we plant the seed and soon we see the miracle of the blossoming.  Men
have often misunderstood and have reversed the process.
They would have
the harvest before the planting." (Ensign, Oct. 1978) The harvest of
blessings comes after the trial of our faith.

Another lesson is that we might want to be careful who we listen to.
There are lots of cheerleaders on the sidelines of life.  Many times they
are cheering us on with the best of intentions.  But they may lack
fundamental -- and critical -- knowledge and understanding to assist us.
Imagine driving a car full of people home from a dance.  Everybody is
talking at once, creating so much chaos that you cannot hear what anyone
is saying.  You ask for one designated speaker.  One of the back-seat
drivers says he knows where everyone lives and that he can best direct
you to their homes.  This sounds logical so you give him the authority to
speak for everyone else.  After a number of wrong turns and ridiculous
detours, you become so frustrated that you stop the car and take a
breather.  As you look at your spokesman, you notice that although this
guy is as "blind as a bat" he isn't wearing his glasses.  Sheepishly, he
admits that he cannot read the road signs and can barely even see the
road!  But "he thought he could help you out."

Doesn't make a lot of sense, does it? Yet, if we aren't careful, we can
place our well-being in jeopardy by placing too much trust in friends
who may not see clearly.  Only our Father has perfect sight.  Only He can
guide us safely home.  Just like the fortunate and persevering frog, we
can get ourselves out of many a pit if we are careful not to give in to
negative input from naysayers, or to wrong information from those who
cannot precisely direct us Home.  With God all things are possible. (see
Matt.19:26, Mark 10:27, Luke 18:27).

One of my favorite movies is "Hook," in which Robin Williams plays Peter
Pan (Banning).  The entire movie hinges on the fact that Peter has
forgotten who he was and all he was able to do as Pan.  Powerful lessons
are taught as he starts jumping (so to speak) with enough strength to get
out of his pit of self denial and doubt.  It was exhilarating when he
crowed and took off into the air!  He could fly!  He had learned to
believe in himself and in his abilities.  Perhaps the closer we get to
believing in ourselves, in the Savior and His gospel, the more clearly we
can look in the mirror to see a true reflection of who we are.  We may
better remember whose we are, and how valiant we must have been in orderto be sent to earth at this time. Spiritually, we will be able to fly!

Do you believe?  Even when those on the sidelines believe in us and in
our abilities, it will do us little good until we believe for ourselves.
Let's turn to Father and ask him to "help Thou mine unbelief" ( Mark
9:24) so that whatever pits or obstacles come, we may not be confined and we will not give up.
Let's keep on jumping!