Too little?

Today's Gospel reading from Matthew 17:14-20 is one of the enigmatic sayings of Jesus.

The disciples were trying to drive a demon out of a young man and failed. The father of the young man knelt before Jesus and asked for his help. Jesus heals the man's son. Then, the disciples asked why they failed and this is what Jesus said:

"Because of your little faith.
Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed,
you will say to this mountain,
"Move from here to there," and it will move.
Nothing will be impossible for you."

It reminds me of the scene in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back when Luke Skywalker tries to move his X-wing fighter out of the muck and is unsuccessful and then Yoda is able to do it!  Or, another movie reference, in The Matrix when Neo tells Morpheus that he is too fast.  Morpheus responds, "Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in this place?"  Yoda and Morpheus have the faith and each believes in his student.

While in these two movies only "special" people can become Jedis or be The One, Jesus tells us that anyone can move a mountain. All you need is faith as small as a mustard seed. Now the question becomes, did Jesus mean a literal mountain or is he talking about spiritual mountains, like the disciples expelling the demon?

I know there have been times when I'm praying for something and my faith crumples a little because the situation seems too hard. It sounds something like this, "Dear God, please take care of 'X'...who am I kidding..." Rather than allowing the Lord to do something, I basically shut God out of the equation before I even give Him a shot.

Next time I think something is too big for God, I need to remember that my faith is too small and then pray my heart out.