Potential

Potential: existing in possibility - powerful - anything that may be possible. These are a few of the definitions found in Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language for the word potential. You know I take joy in potential - the potential found in a jar of buttons, a skein of yarn, a yard of fabric, an apple and our property. I see things not simply as they are but also as they could be. As we contemplate putting our home on the market and moving to town I am saddened by a possible loss of potential. You see, we own acreage that has such enormous potential and the thought of moving to a city lot distresses me. Even though we are not currently utilizing the potential, it is still there waiting to be tapped into. And yet, every piece of land, no matter how small, has potential - I just might have to look a little harder, but it is there.
That is how we should see people - all people - full of potential. Each person has in them the powerful possibility to impact the world for God's glory. Jesus saw the potential in fishermen, a Samaritan woman, a short tax collector, demon possessed women and us. I am so thankful He is able to see past our sin - to not only look at who we are but who we could be and, by His grace, will be.
The man standing on the street corner holding a sign is plum full of potential. The child throwing a fit in the toy section of the store has potential. The poor family living in the trailer is brimming with potential. The teenage boy with finger sized holes in his lobes and a bad attitude has potential. The person sitting next to you in the pew on Sunday morning also has potential. As does the young girl forced to work in the brothel overseas and the illiterate man breaking rocks in Zambia and the woman dying of AIDS in Malawi.
How would life be different if we did not make our own judgements as to who was worthy or capable of potential - if we truly believed each and every person has the powerful possibility to further the kingdom of God and bring glory and honor to Him? If we saw people as Jesus does?