Potential…

We are all born with it.

We come into the world totally beautiful and complete, inside and out.

Babies may not be beautiful by the standards by which we judge adults,

but everyone agrees, babies are beautiful.

The beauty comes from our potential glowing and shining through.

Bundles of joy, indeed.

Bundles of potential, for sure.

We never know when we look at a baby, how their potential will manifest.

Doctor?

Inventor?

Mother Theresa?

Musician?

Teacher?

Martin Luther King?

Mother?

Father?

Nobel Prize winner?

While our potential is greater and more complex, we are like a seed.

Gardeners know what it takes to get the maximum potential from that seed.

Good soil.

The right amounts of water.

Proper nutrients, available at the right times.

Sun.

Warm mornings.

Weeds will be near, but the master gardener knows that those weeds must be removed.

So it is with us.

In order to help others reach their potential, we must become the gardener.

We need to provide the right environment.

Knowledge to stimulate the growth of the mind.

Love to make the heart race.

Experiences to provide examples.

Opportunity to grow towards the potential …

that was placed inside of us before our birth.

And as gardeners for others we must pluck the weeds to keep people focused on their bright future.

Who is the farmer then?

They can be parents.

Teachers.

Ministers.

Grandparents.

Or best friends.

While the seed has one human gardener, people can have many.

But unlike the seed, we can be our own gardeners.

We can cultivate our minds.

We can change our environment when needed.

We can seek experiences to enrich our storehouse of ideas.

We can build loving relationships that provide passion – the fuel for our potential.

We can learn what we need to learn.

We can believe in ourselves and our potential.

When we do these things,

We unleash our innate potential.

We begin to bear the fruit we were meant to bear.

We become the miracle we were intended to be.


Kevin Eikenberry
© 2004