You end up about as lucky as only man in a women's prison with a fist full of pardons. Nah, I'm kidding, Or…. am I? :>) don't you get mad at me now.

Let's see, said blind man!

The two most common weaknesses of our physical vision are nearsightedness and farsightedness. To use an analogy we could say that these same two conditions are our biggest problems with mental vision.

A person who is mentally nearsighted is prone to ignore and overlook problems and possibilities that are distant. He is totally obsessed and focused on problem and possibilities that are right in front of him.

He is oblivious to problems and possibilities that he might encounter in future. To him, future seems about as important as a screen door on a submarine.

He couldn't care less about future. He doesn't think or plan in future terms. The future to him is a whole new ball game because he can't see beyond end of his nose.

Well, what about his cousin?

Ah, yeah. On other side, mentally farsighted person is prone to ignore and overlook problems and "possibilities" that are right in front of his face. He is totally oblivious to problems and possibilities that are about to eat him.

Have you ever heard cliché, "if it were a snake it would have bit him"? Yep, that's our farsighted friend; a real mental giant.

He's somewhere off every day in fairy land; A dream world of Peter Pan and Disneyland. He wants to start out at top of his company. He would never be happy cleaning toilets. The only job he would take is where he could start out at top; never realizing only job like that is digging a hole.

Can't see forest for trees!

In process of examining our mental vision, we need to develop both our far sight and our near sight. The advantages to a person who can see what is right in front of him are great. Are there possibilities all around you right now that you are overlooking? Are there things in your life everyday that you scoff at because they look like a Duck?

Fortunes were made off of a little thing called a paper clip. A fortune was made off of another thing called a bobbie pin; all because someone dared to not only see with their eyes, but, also to see with their mental vision.

Throwing Out The Baby With The Bath Water!

A mentally farsighted person would probably never have discovered something as trivial, yeah right, as a paper clip. Remember he is always off somewhere in never never land trying to discover Rock of Gibraltar. Now, this is assuming that his near sighted mental vision is all backed up like a toilet.

If he recognizes that some things that look like a duck and quack like a duck just might be a duck, then this guy could be crying all way to bank.

How Much Is Enough?

How much money should a person earn? How much education should one get? How many books should a person read in their lifetime? How many sermons should you hear and how many seminars and workshops should you attend? How many books should you have in your library?

Here are answers. I should earn all money I can. If a gold watch was your reward after forty years of work and you did your best, ok. But if you did not do your best you only cheated yourself. I should get all education I can. I should read all books I can. I should hear all sermons I can. I should attend all workshops I can. I should have all books I can get my hands on in my library. Why? Because we were all created for growth. And, because there is no shortage of any of these things. God has supplied everything we need for growth, development and maximum potential. Why wouldn't God want you to subscribe to maximum potential? As a parent you would want that for your children wouldn't you? Why wouldn't you want to be unique and sophisticated, able to hold your own in any conversation and on any topic? Anyone can sit idly by and watch world pass them up and not contribute. And what would you contribute? Value, quality and service to others would be great for starters. If you have deposited nothing, you can withdraw same amount, nothing. You are already in debt if you've made no deposits to your personal account. Your life's ledger will read zero in, zero out. The dates on your tombstone will say nothing between them. Born 1931, died 2003. Contributed nothing to life. All there will be is a dash between those two significant dates.

How tall should a tree grow? As tall as it wants to. How much should you grow during your lifetime? As much as you possibly can because there are no limits as to how much you can grow. The only limits there could be are ones you put on yourself or allow others to put on you. It is called suppression. Limits suppress. Self-imposed limits hold you back. Here is a word of caution. Do not let limits of others hold you back.

Here is something I've noticed about trees. They weather all kinds of storms. Depending where they are growing, storms can be quite severe. Trees take a great deal of punishment in my home State of Maine. As a kid growing up there, I hacked away at many trees with a knife or hatchet. I've stripped bark off a birch tree to make a canoe and tree kept on growing. I've tied ropes and chains in limbs of them to swing from and they kept right on growing. Unless taproot is damaged, a tree can take a lot of punishment and still keep right on growing. The only thing that will hinder greatly upward growth of a tree is if other trees crowding in minimize its space. It gets stunted because it has no place from which to grow upward. It's choked off. There is even a vine that grows around a tree and as it spirals upward it literally takes nutrients from tree for itself by attaching its suckers to tree. That process eventually kills tree, but not vine.

DO NOT LET PEOPLE CROWD YOU. MAKE ROOM FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL GROWTH. BE A PRODUCT OF YOUR OWN CONCLUSION. WHY NOT? IT'S YOUR LIFE. DO NOT LET PEOPLE ROB YOU OF YOUR DREAMS BY SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF YOU. WATCH OUT FOR THESE PEOPLE AND STAY AWAY FROM THEM. DO NOT LET PEOPLE CONTAMINATE YOUR SOUL AND SPIRIT WITH WORTHLESSNESS. IF THEY DO NOT ADD VALUE TO YOUR LIFE IN A POSITIVE WAY, SUBTRACT THEM FROM YOUR LIST OF FRIENDS. HOW MANY FRIENDS DO YOU REALLY NEED ANYWAY? ONE GREAT FRIEND WOULD BE ENOUGH.