Potential

On the balcony of the cabana is a stack of turning blanks.  To someone who has never turned, I am quite sure it looks like a true mess.  Waxed coated wood circles mix with aging chunks of red oak and ash to form a bizarre sculpture of chaotic shapes.  It isn’t clear what the pieces could be, even I don’t know.  I do know my intention; each is a work of art waiting for discovery, unveiling, and appreciation. 
 
Many things rest in hiding, waiting.  The range of types, sizes, and potential defies description.  From potential works of art to people buried in life’s turmoil, from the sacred sports within your life and mine to the beauty hiding within every living creature.  There is extraordinary potential – in your life and mine, within your reach and mine, within our communities.  Everything is here.
 
One of life’s greatest potential lies in what may yet bloom.  The intent of many is to unleash, yet there are always two pieces to the equation.  Candidly, “God intended, out of the goodness of his heart, to be lavish in his revelation.”  (Isaiah 42.21)  Yet we resist.  We refuse to hear.  We deny the beauty within our sight.  We close our minds to what could be.  The potential is here.  The discovery of what lies beyond comes simply by opening a door within us.  Everything on the other side is ready, even as it sits quietly gathering dust on the second floor of cabana.
 
It is easy to find one’s self mired in guilt by what could have been or be.  If I recognize what could be, in this moment and in the future, and act, guilt has done its job.  I am free to be, having learned from yesterday, in the moment.  Unleashing the potential in the moment is the only question at hand, no matter how long things have been waiting.
 
You and I face an uncertain future, except when it comes to God.  God saw our potential.  God believes in us.  God is willing to act, empower, and be with us.