Ok, after I vented last night on here, I went upstairs, brushed my teeth, took my pills, checked on Punky, and sat down in bed to read “The Upper Room” which Hubby and I do each night before bed.

I think I found a message for me in last night’s reading……

Seeing the Potential

Read Mark 4:26-32

The kingdom of God is like . . . a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants.
-Mark 4:30-32 (NIV)

FROM the rows and rows of plants in the garden, I carefully chose tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. To these I added bright flowering plants. They were small, but I could imagine them as they would become – large plants bearing a good harvest of vegetables or flowers to adorn my garden with color and fragrance. With good soil, sunshine, water and care, they would grow to full maturity.

Aren’t people similar? As babies we look small; but like the giant oak tree that springs from a small seed, we too can grow to maturity and usefulness. Even some adults don’t appear to have much potential at first – the noisy or nosey neighbor; the rebellious teenager; the Christian who seems different in looks and actions. But when we accept one another not just as we are now but as we can become, we can see potential. By giving each other the sunshine of our love and acceptance and by watering relationships with prayer, we give each other the power to change and grow.

-Mildred K. Butterfield (Oklahoma, U.S.A.)

Lord, help us to love one another and to nurture one another’s potential. Help us never to look down on other people because of their age, appearance, social status, or race. Amen.

When we offer love and acceptance, we help others grow into the people God dreams them to be.

To see the potential in others

That made me feel badly about venting about the students in our school…it helped me put things back into perspective.   We do still have issues that need to be addressed as far as courtesy and respect go……