Capable

England’s Royal Garden network includes a garden in Woking known as Wisley.  Every year, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) hosts a wood turning exhibition.  When Whitney was twelve, the beauty and wonder of a wood turner creating a wooden apple struck her in a way I did not anticipate.  “I want to turn an apple.  Can I turn an apple when we visit my grandparents?”
 
I wasn’t sure how I should reply.  Whitney was twelve.  Was she old enough?  Was she capable?  I did not know how to give her instructions that would lead to an apple while keeping her safe.  I did not know if a twelve year old was capable of doing something like this.
 
I turned to my dad, hoping there was some kind of compromise that would work.  His response of assurance, hope, and confidence was strangely unnerving.  Did every kid have this kind of potential?  Was this something anyone could do?  How would this play out.
 
It was almost as if I was listening to an old prophet.  He knew better.  “Get the blind and deaf out here and ready—the blind (though there's nothing wrong with their eyes) and the deaf (though there's nothing wrong with their ears).”  (Isaiah 43.8)  Age is not a limitation.  Experience is not a requirement.  Success is not a prerequisite.
 
God says that you and I are holy, anointed, and Divinity’s ambassadors.  God didn’t say we could and would become this.  Every statement is in the present.  God says we are his kids; not as we will become, but as we are.  God says we can change the world – now, with the tools that we have, and in our condition.  God says we are capable.
 
Dad knew Whitney was capable, even if Whitney did not.  Dad guided Whitney in turning her first cedar apple; and it was beautiful.  Whitney was safe.  Whitney was able.  Whitney was twelve.
 
You and I are capable of great things.  There are opportunities for each, perfect fits, in every day.  God knows the truth.  The only question is, do we?