It’s a familiar conversation…You know it’s there and you send someone to get it.
“It’s in the pantry…second row down and on your right!”
Only to be followed by…”Nope. It’s not in there–we don’t have any!”
So you walk over, open the pantry door and grab it–“What’s this?!”, you say!
“Oh, I didn’t see it”… is the response.
Whatever “it” is or wherever “it” may be– I’m sure you can recall similar conversations at your house, right? They can never “see it”—even though you are 100% certain where it is.
Finally, after my part in raising 7 kids–I got smart. When my youngest son, Daniel, was four, I decided to PURPOSELY create a different result. So I started calling Daniel the “finder of lost things”. First, I’d ask him to find me things I KNEW he could find–and every time he’d bring me something I’d say…”Oh man, you’re awesome–you’re the finder of lost things!”
Then anytime something was lost or anyone in the house was looking for something I’d say, “Daniel can find anything– he’s the finder of lost things.” And you know what– he can and does!
He just turned 13. A couple months ago we were in DC. Daniel had just gotten a brand new iPod Touch from the Apple Store that same day. We had spent the rest of the afternoon and evening driving around my favorite spots in Old Alexandria and stopping by a few of the monuments.
We were just leaving the White House (the kids were taking pictures in the park across from it). We got into this massive traffic jam as we were coming into the National Harbor where we were staying. There were 7 of us packed into an SUV when I heard a bunch of commotion coming from the back of the vehicle. It was Daniel. He lost his iPod. I told him not to worry, we’d find it when we got out. So we pulled up to the resort and started looking… everywhere.
On the seat…Under the seat…In the seat…In the bags… Everywhere. There was no iPod to be found.
The rest of the kids headed inside. And the moment they walked away Daniel burst into tears. He was sad he lost his iPod, but he was crying because he felt like he let me down. His mom decided we should drive back to the last place he had it (outside the White House) and search the lawn. Really? It was dark. The iPod was BLACK.
The rest of the family was going to get Thai at the harbor and now we were going to go back to downtown DC? It was like searching for the “needle in a haystack”–it made NO SENSE to me whatsoever.
Anyway, we went and Daniel and I looked all over the place– in every flower bush and hedge, everywhere. No iPod.
We came back to the resort and searched the car all over again. No iPod.
I told him it was no big deal. He always took great care of his electronics and things like this just happened. I said I’d get him another one but he didn’t want it. He was really upset.
Morning came and before we headed back home we searched the car again. Nothing.And after another long day—with several more stops–we arrived back home and unpacked the car just before it was dark. I was in my bedroom when I heard all the shouting.
Next thing I knew Daniel was standing in my doorway with my iPhone in his hand– he had taken the phone and fished it deep under the seats– turned on the flash and took a bunch of pictures by remote.
And what do you know…THERE WAS HIS IPOD! It had fallen in such a place that we would have never found it. But he was determined and after a little maneuvering he had his iPod back in his hand, safe and sound.
Later that night, as he told me goodnight, he smiled and said…”Just want you to know…I haven’t lost my super-powers…I’m STILL the finder of lost things!”
True story.
I could tell you LOTS MORE stories of seemingly impossible– or at least highly unlikely–outcomes, turnarounds and breakthroughs– all because someone BELIEVED a certain thing. Those are my FAVORITE kind of stories to tell.
But then there’s the flip side…Which, unfortunately, happens to be what people are most familiar with. And that’s the beliefs that create lack, limitation and cause us to play small in life and accept so much less than we were meant to have, do and be. Those beliefs rob us of our potential and steal our joy. They’re silent, invisible and most of the time– go completely unnoticed–except, of course, for how they show up by creating results (or lack of) in our lives.
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The dictionary defines BELIEF as:
- an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.
- trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something.
Wikipedia says…
“Belief is the state of mind in which a person thinks something to be the case, with or without there being empirical evidence to prove that something is the case with factual certainty”
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The ROLE belief plays in our lives is bigger than you probably realize. Yet, I’d guess you’ve never really given it much thought– outside of some beliefs you may have chosen to accept (for instance, a certain faith).
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