Walt Disney’s widow was being interviewed after the completion of Disney World in Florida. The reporter remarked, “Isn’t it a shame that your husband never got to see this?” Mrs. Disney quickly corrected him. “He did see it. That is why it is here!”
“I’ll believe it when I see it, the ultimate cynic’s response. The problem is they will not see it until they believe it. So many of us have been disappointed in believing for things that did not happen. We have believed for the impossible, against what others told us, and then felt foolish when it didn’t happen the way we thought it would. Those moments can sometimes define us, some call it a little wiser for lesson learned. I, myself, hurt because of even the slightest cynicism that has creeped into my thinking from past disappointments. I know that in order to be all that God has called me to be, I will always have to believe the impossible and see in my heart what is not yet visible to the eye. Isn’t that faith? Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ” Your faith is what sees the impossible.
A couple of weeks ago, as we opened our new sanctuary for the first time, my Bishop said “I am standing in my past. I have already preached here many times in my heart and in my mind, and I am already walking in the future.” (TrinityChapel.org) This is what Walt Disney’s wife meant. Your vision has to be so real to you that while you still can not touch it with your hand, or see it with your eye, you know that it is already a reality to you and God.
With each great man there was a vision. Martin Luther King Jr. said “I have a dream…” The reason he was so powerfully descriptive, and was able to cause so many to share his dream, was because he had already walked it. He had already seen it. Because of his reality that he walked in, no pain or suffering could stop his dream from coming to pass, not even unto death.
What dreams do you hold, what vision has God birthed in you that it is more real than reality itself? Get it, see it, believe it. If God put it in you, he will bring it to you and through you. He is no respector of persons. He does not pick and choose who’s dreams to fulfill, He is simply waiting on you to let Him do it.
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.†– Albert Einstein
Walt Disney’s imagination changed millions of lives. He brought his imagination to life which allowed the rest of us a reprieve from reality and a creative outlet for the child in us to enjoy some idealism. What a gift positive visionaries are to us.