Holy Roller!

Dale Davis has brought new meaning to the term, "blind faith."

Davis, a 78-year-old bowler from Alta, Iowa, "scored a perfect 300 game," according to an article I read this morning on CNN.com. Thing is, Davis is blind. An avid bowler earlier in his life, he gave up the sport when he lost his sight years ago. But, thanks to his sister, he rediscovered the game and now plays six a week. A perfect game has been a long-time goal.

I can't count a perfect game among my lofty goals.  As far as bowling is concerned, I'm happy to just  inch into the triple digits when I play. Most times my kids beat me by a very comfortable margin and they've had a lot time in their lives to practice.

We don't have to be bowling fanatics to learn a lesson from Davis. Put away all the self-help books; this guy has goal setting down to a science. He assumed when he first lost his sight that his desire to bowl a perfect score would never happen. Instead, he mustered all the hutzpah he had in him and instead figured out a way to navigate the alleys by finding the raised dots on the lanes and using his hearing to do the rest.

Now Davis aims to bowl his second perfect game by the time he's 90.

Sometimes even though we can see clearly what's in front of us, our fears about change and what lies ahead can blind us to our own ambitions. It's a lot easier to find the excuses for why we can't do something than to figure out how we can do it but in a different way. Davis was ready to let something like eyesight keep him from the sport he loved; however, with encouragement from a sibling he did not let go of his passion but figured out a different way to keep it in his life. Davis did not give up on goals because he was blind; instead he found an alternate way to meet them.

My friend and MFA colleague, Carmen, posted a great quote on her blog, Creative Kindling. It was from Anais Nin and goes -- "And the day came/when the risk to remain tight in a bud/became more painful/than the risk it took to blossom."

At 78 years of age, and with the inability to see what's in front of him, Dale Davis continues to clearly see the road ahead of him, move forward confidently, and blossom.

Just for a moment, maybe we should all close our eyes to invite in the darkness so we might see the blossoming bud of our true potential.