The Childhood Magic of Trusting
What if the Universe Always Delivers?
In a world where trust may seem naive, it’s important to remember there are other forces at work. This is an essay I wrote some time ago, but I think it’s as fitting as ever. In fact, I had a dream last night about the importance of believing, so it feels like the perfect time to share it. Happy Holidays!
When I was in third grade, I was invited to a sleepover, and all I wanted was one thing: A pair of Jolly Green Giant elf slippers to arrive in time for the party. Please don’t ask me why. They were green felt slippers, turned up at the toes, ordered through the mail with a canned corn proof-of-purchase label and a few cents for shipping.
In my eight-year-old mind, it was VERY important to have those slippers for the party. They were new and unique, trendy (I thought) in a third-grader sort of way. I’d be the only one at the sleepover with such cool elf wear.
I trusted that they would come. I just knew they would. I trusted so much, in fact, that even ten minutes before leaving for my friend’s house, I still knew they’d be here. Five minutes before throwing my pink duffle bag in the car, I was still expectantly praying. Two minutes and counting...still waiting. And one minute before we left...the mail came. A small box. A Jolly Green Giant logo. The slippers had arrived.
I don’t remember a thing about wearing those slippers at the party, or how the other girls must have rolled their eyes, but I do remember the lesson of trust. It was evidence that the universe will provide if you ask and believe.
Around the holidays, it’s easy to believe—in Santa, magic, generosity and kindness. But now we’re gaining a better understanding of how this whole process works. “Believe it and you’ll see it,” Wayne Dyer once said. And so it is, an intersection between prayer and the Law of Attraction.
A friend forwarded to me a video by Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., author of The Biology of Belief. The power of positive thoughts and negative thoughts are equally powerful, he says. One can heal and the other can make us ill. “We’re uniquely able to heal ourselves...unless we believe we can’t.”
The power of belief makes anything possible. A friend demonstrated it a few months ago when she got a job she’d been focused on for two years. It offered her the hours and lifestyle she wanted. So even though she didn’t have seniority and wasn’t sure the job would ever come open, she didn’t waiver in her belief that she wanted and deserved it. Sure enough, in a chain of events she could never have choreographed, the job opened up at the perfect moment, and it was hers.
Sometimes, of course, we don’t get what we ask for. Loved ones die, companies lay off workers, children go down arduous paths. But belief holds out the promise that the world will right itself again, and that no event, no matter how devastating, can permanently silence joy.
Asking with faith, trusting in possibilities, and taking the necessary steps...they all allow us to make our desires real. Not just because special gifts are bestowed on us at random. But because God/Spirit/Creation/the universe is right here with us, ready to support us.
Believe that what you want is what you can have. Believe that this is an abundant world. Believe that as you state your intentions, focus on them, ask for help from Spirit, and take right action, you are reeling in your desires like you’ve cast your invisible fishing line in abundant waters.
This is my wish for the holidays: That your thoughts dwell on the beauty of this miraculous world, and that, like the elf slippers, your desires arrive by the power of your belief.
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And yet another layer of understanding the great, Deb Engle.
Thank you! Belief has always been difficult for me, and at the same time total credulity is a temptation. So the thank-you is for your balance.