Rescuing Potential
It is easy to spot the waste of resources. Pouring fresh milk or old wine down the drain or onto the ground makes even the most callous among us grimace a bit. We can also relate to the waste of funds on boondoggle projects or lament and grieve for the loss of innocent life. And if we all start with a basic premise that each human life is precious, and that each beating heart represents a child of God; then we must delve into the subject of ‘wasted human potential’.
Rescuing human potential can become a holy task. Rescuing potential is actually the exercise of extracting the God-given ability and purpose from every life; and it is a task that each of us can do!
Rescuing human potential is something we can do for our own life by improving our habits or learning new skills. It may mean overcoming an addiction or simply allowing ourselves to be loved by others. Rescuing the human potential in others may take the simple form of an encouraging word to a shy and introverted person. It may mean that we agree to become a coach, a volunteer tutor or donate money to a charitable cause.
The death of human potential often comes in small drips. The stunted mental and physical growth of children occurs in many nations as a result of malnourishment in a person’s first 5 years of life, forever stealing a person’s true life potential as they become adults. It comes in the form of stolen educational opportunity for young girls in cultures that rob over half their population of their brightest mental potential by denying the chance to attend school. The lack of tuition or a school uniform can deny the brightest child in a village the chance to read or write.
War, poverty, prejudice, ignorance and disease sap the life out of entire generations and whole cultures. Attacking these demons in all their forms both as individuals and societies should remain our top goal.
Even in our own homes we can rob our own family’s potential when we fail to spend adequate time with those we love, or fail to be a spiritual leader. It can happen when we fail to discipline, praise or nurture our own children. We should turn the electronics off and go for long walks and discuss our day. We can share a meal with prayer around a table. We can allow the home to become the sacred sanctuary for confession, forgiveness, unconditional love and acceptance. When we know we can go home to a safe place, regardless of what we have done or become; life never loses hope!
In business and commerce we can unleash human potential when we entrust others with new responsibilities and delegate authority. Give a wayward co-worker or employee a second chance after they fail or betray your trust. Don’t give up at the first outward appearance of failure in yourself or in others.
The best rescue plan for human potential is constant prayer for our friends and foes. Pray the hardest for those that appear to have fallen off the cliff: the incarcerated, the addicted, the disabled, the hardest among us to love. God desires blessings for each of His creation. And each of us becomes that blessing when we foster the human potential in our own life and in the lives of those around us.