I would suspect that the majority of the people that read this article have heard at least one version of the children’s story, “The Little Engine That Could”. This story has been called an American “fairytale” and became widely known in the United States after it was published in 1930. The story has remained so popular that in 2011, there was a computer animated movie of the same name released.
Because of my grandchildren, I am probably safe in saying that I have seen that movie a minimum of 500 times and occasionally multiple times in a single day. In each version of the story, there is a little train engine that takes on what appears to be an impossible task because none of the other larger locomotives are willing to try. The difference is, the little engine kept saying “I think I
can, I think I can”. At the end of the story, the little engine accomplishes the task.
In Matthew 17, Jesus says to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” The mustard seed is smaller than the period at the end of a sentence, yet Jesus says that is the amount of faith needed to move mountains.
With faith in God and His Gift of Christ to us, we don’t have to keep telling ourselves “I think I can, I think I can” but we can have the peace of mind to say “I know I can” and move mountains or any other obstacle that tries to hinder our walk with God.
– Ed Staley
Leave a Reply