The story is told of a teacher who said he had an exercise for his students to try. They were to stand, facing away from their classmates, and fall backward, relying on another student to catch them. Most of them felt uncomfortable with this, and they could not let go for more than a few inches before stopping themselves.
Finally, one student, a thin, quiet, dark-haired girl who almost always wears bulky, white fisherman sweaters, crosses her arms over her chest, closes her eyes, leans back, and does not flinch, like one of those Lipton tea commercials where the model splashes into the pool.
For a moment it looks like she is going to hit the floor. At the last instant, her assigned partner grabs her head and shoulders and yanks her up harshly.
“Whoa!” several students yell. Some clap. The teacher finally smiles. “You see”, he says to the girl, “you closed your eyes. That was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see. You have to believe what you feel. And if you are ever going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too even when you're in the dark. Even when you're falling."
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1 KJV)
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