Potential

"Every student can learn" is the most common phrase I have heard since starting Alternative Teaching Certification program.  Realizing despite a learning difficulty, every student can learn; they just might need a different perspective or technique to be successful.  Isn't that how life is?  We aren't all wired alike, and what works for one doesn't always work for another, but we all have potential. 

What is it in life that makes us operate below our potential?  A fear of failure?  A lack of initiative?  A lack of direction?  A lack of discipline?  Someone said you can't? 

I have had several conversations lately with friends and the disappointments in people when you know they have much greater potential.  Our society is quick to criticize and label anyone who doesn't meet the "standard" of good or success as set forth by our world.  Who really sets the standard?  Society doesn't, I don't, you don't ... God does.  

I recently read a quote from CS Lewis' The Weight of His Glory and Other Addresses: 

"If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from  Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith.  Indeed if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at sea."

Instead of labeling or categorizing someone based on their actions or lack there of, let's rally around them and encourage them. Find the way that works for them. Be it your child, your spouse, your friends, your family members - everyone of them is unique. Every relationship requires work, including grace when disappointed or someone isn't operating at what you know is their potential. Most likely when we are below our potential it is Satan who has led us to believe a lie, and he doesn't deserve to win. We can overcome the lies, reach our potential and do it with joy!

Encourage someone today, make an extra effort and believe the best for them.  In the words of Christian Artist Lecrae:  "Again I say: Believe the best about people. Pray for their short comings. You are not the standard. We all need grace.”

Blessings,
Angie