This morning I taught a lesson at my church meetings at the Detention Center. Again, as I often do, I read this book to them. Its message is profound.
A visitor comes to an impoverished and run down Kingdom. Everyone is depressed and discouraged with their little beat up corner of the world. The visitor lets the King look through his Spyglass wherein everything he views looks as it could be. What a marvelous kingdom he beholds through the glass. The visitor allows the King to keep the Spyglass for a couple of years. For those years he lets his subjects look through the glass and see what might be with a little elbow grease and determination. The Kingdom is transformed. When the traveler returns for the Spyglass the King is reluctant to give it up. Only then, under the tutelage of the visitor, does he come to realize that all he really needs if faith. Nothing starts without Faith. The Spyglass helped them to have Faith that desirable results will come of their efforts. Now, they were ready to envision their own futures and go forward with Faith in promising results.
Years ago, when I found this great little book, I longed to have a spyglass of my own. I searched and searched and one day I found one, on E-bay. A Spyglass very nearly identical to the one on the cover of the book. It isn't magic, though it is wonderful with 150 year old optics that amaze me. I keep it on a shelf to remind me that I too can accomplish what I envision through Faith. My own Kingdom has become run down and in disrepair, just as Evans' fictional Kingdom did. This week I almost gave up on the vision of putting things right and coming back to the (unappreciated) splendor of the past. I looked through my Spyglass for the first time in a long time and found it to be a lot more magical than I expected. I am going to make it so. I am going to repair the basement. I am going to write my books. I am going to go back to Newfoundland. I am going to find a way to help our kids stay out of Detention. I've never stopped dreaming of these things, I just lost faith in their accomplishment. Today as I looked through the Spyglass I saw with the eye of Faith.
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