It's Magic! NOT!

Uri Geller

I have a small fascination with magic. It’s not what you think. I am not a wizard!  I like to do small tricks with items you can find at thrift shops or dollar stores.I like having something I can do to bring a bit of wonder to an otherwise ordinary day.  I can do the classic cups and balls trick, pick your card out of the deck and vanish a coin. Pretty basic stuff, but I have never claimed to have special powers!

In the 1970’s there was a craze about psychic phenomena. One man, in particular, captured the public's attention by claiming to be able to bend spoons and manipulate magnetic fields. His name was Uri Gellar. He was big on the talk show circuit, bending cutlery, guessing hidden drawings and starting stopped watches, and nobody it seemed questioned his seemingly genuine abilities. That is until a Canadian conjuror named James Randi wrote a book called “The Truth About Uri Geller”

James Randi

Randi is a paranormal investigator who offered a million-dollar prize to anyone who could prove they had psychic or paranormal abilities under scientific scrutiny. The money has never been claimed. In his discussion on the spoon bending illusion on an Australian television morning program, Randi said something interesting that I find applies to our lives. When asked how Gellar bent the spoon, Randi replied that he did it when you weren’t looking! 

The secret was in the misdirection. When you were looking one way, something else was happening in your blind spot and the result was mystifying to the point where you were convinced that he had supernatural powers. 

Sometimes we can consider someone to be superhuman by what they demonstrate to us, forgetting the fact that something else was going on outside our observation.

Here’s what I am driving at.

Some of us have gifts and some of us have to work at it. Those with gifts sometimes don’t know the value of those gifts and never explore the possibilities they offer.

Have you ever seen someone super fit? They have 0% body fat and can run like the wind? How did they get like that? You might see before and after pictures of people who have gone through a weight loss journey. ow did that happen? It happened between photo one and photo two. 

It happened when you weren't looking!

It seems miraculous, even super-human! But it’s not! It happened in the kitchen when they made a healthy meal, it happened in the basement by riding a stationary bike, it happened at a gym where they chose to sweat and do awkward uncomfortable things. It happened when no one was looking.

There really is no mystery to what can be achieved once the mind and will get involved.

Let’s take the example of Jesus Christ. He was born to an average family with modest means. His birth was a big deal. It made some people happy and some people angry and jealous enough to commit mass murder. Pretty intense. After the birth, Jesus and his family disappeared into Egypt for years. Let’s call this the time between photo one and photo two. Not much is known about what happened in His growing up years. It was unobserved and undocumented, living only in the memory of His parents and siblings. I am going to guess that during that time he was not wasting the majority of his time doing trivial things. I think he was raised to study the history of his people, the scriptures and the family trade. All good things that became very important to Him in later years.

The flip side of this is that if you neglect to do the important things out of the public eye, it becomes evident when the need arises. If you go to the gym and don’t put in the work, you won’t see the results at the beach! If you don’t take time to pray and think about the scriptures, things like doubt and fear will have a greater influence over you, which could lead to things like anxiety and even weight gain! What you do in secret always becomes evident in one way or another. It’s just a fact. You can’t magically wish yourself to a better life.

Today is your day to start!

What will you do in secret today that will improve your relationships? Your body? Your faith?

We’re all waiting to see!

Matthew 2:13-23, Luke 12:2, Matthew 6:6