WITHOUT FORWARD THRUST, an airplane has no lift. But with sufficient forward thrust, the plane—which can weigh hundreds of tons—moves gracefully aloft. The same is true with us. Thought must continue to move forward, to be progressive, to meet and master the challenges confronting us, and to be borne aloft in the process.
Hiking along a stream one day, a friend and I came upon a park ranger leading a horse over a low, narrow bridge. The ranger crossed, but the horse lost its footing and jumped into the rushing water. Finding itself standing in the silt, the horse wouldn't move despite the efforts of the ranger to pull and coax it to shore. My friend dropped his backpack, walked into the waist-deep water, and stepped under the horse's neck. Reaching down with his hands, he pulled the horse's front legs out of the water one at a time. Within a few seconds, the horse moved forward and leaped out of the stream. My friend told me later that horses occasionally come to believe that they can't move, even when they can. He hadn't moved the horse; he simply demonstrated to the animal its own freedom.
This incident illustrates the fact that it's thought that needs to move. And when a right idea dawns in thought, actions follow freely and naturally and almost without effort. This is why forward, progressive thinking—inspired vision—is so important in leadership. A God-sourced, shared vision can inspire an organization or a country to marshal its resources to great advancement. And this is why such expansive thinking is necessary in healing.
