Potential

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new opportunity begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! The arrival of this day brings so much hope and opportunity…oh how I pray we will seize it! 😊

This weeks Happy Friday is simply going to be a strong dose of encouragement! I warn you now, Kev is fired up! 😊

Dictionary.com defines potential as follows: “Adjective: having or showing the capacity to become or develop into something in the future.” I want to share a few thoughts about potential in 3 specific areas; 1) people, 2) relationships, and 3) each day.

People

I truly believe to the depths of my soul that every person has gifts and abilities and that every life has great value, meaning, and purpose (Ephesians 2:10 says, ‘For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’ and Romans 12:6 says, ‘We have different gifts according to the grace given us.’). For me, the question is not, “Do we have any gifts and abilities?” but rather, “What are we going to do with the gifts and abilities we have been given?” And I am not talking about using these gifts and abilities to love, care for, and serve others – we talked about that last week! 😊- but rather what are we doing to develop them to the fullest extent possible?

Having spent a large portion of my professional life in intercollegiate athletics, I think one of the saddest things I have ever seen is a person with unbelievable natural ability not work to develop it to the fullest extent possible. What’s sadder? Millions of men and women, born with great potential (the capacity to become or develop into something in the future) living so far below all they were created to become. Instead of working tirelessly to develop their gifts and abilities they slumber through life, doing the bare minimum and, in many cases, simply not trying at all.

I beg you Friends, let’s be different. I don’t know your gifts or abilities; I simply know you have them. Please work every day to develop them to the fullest extent possible. Find out where the boundary of your greatness is!

Two quotes come to mind:

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'.” - Erma Bombeck

“Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.” - Leo Buscaglia

Relationships

Just as people have potential, so do relationships. And what will determine whether they become all they are capable of becoming? The same thing that determines whether or not people become all they are capable of becoming, intentionality and hard work! How can we expect to put little effort into our relationships and yet we expect them to be deeply meaningful? Probably for the same reason we want to put minimum effort into our mental or physical development and yet we want the benefits of one who works tirelessly to develop themselves mentally or physically! It is illogical and it doesn’t work!

Please, husbands and wives, moms and dads, be intentional and truly strive to develop the relationship with your spouses and children to the fullness of what they could become. Let’s stop sleepwalking through this life, lets turn off the electronic devices, and let’s genuinely invest in our loved ones. And one of the real keys here is to focus on our part of the relationship. We cannot control anyone; we only control ourselves…and that can be tough! Let’s do the hard work of figuring out what we can do to make the relationship better. Let’s look in the mirror before we look out the window. Let’s strive to be the best version of ourselves that we can be within the relationship and see what happens then.

A couple scriptures come to mind:

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” – Romans 12:18

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” – Matthew 7:3

Each Day

Every day, just like this one, has great potential in it. I always love the early morning hours – it is a blank canvas. Have you ever thought about it that way? It truly is beautiful! Right now, in this moment, I get to choose my attitude for the day. I get to choose if I am going to drag yesterday’s junk into this day or if I will look forward with hopeful expectation. I get to choose what effort I will bring to this day. You get to make all the same choices!

One of the greatest indicators of success is consistent action…simple as that! But it is not quick or sexy! It is a lot of hard work! It is a conscious decision to wake up every day, greet it with a grateful heart, and to give the best of ourselves to it…and then to do that over and over again. The potential is there…whether it is fulfilled is completely up to each one of us! And be certain, we will make a choice!

A few things to share here:

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a] his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” - Lamentations 3:22-23

“This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118: 24

“Make each day your masterpiece.” – John Wooden

“What if today's the only day I got?

I don't wanna waste it if it's my last shot

No regrets in the end

I wanna know I got no what ifs

I'm running till the road runs out

I'm lighting it up right here right now

No regrets in the end

I wanna know I got no what ifs, yeah”

Lyrics from What If by Matthew West 

As I was typing all this it struck me so profoundly; how often people want to have fully developed gifts and abilities without working to develop them! How often we want the benefits of healthy relationships without doing the work of creating healthy relationships! And yes, how we will bring less than our best to a day, any day, and then we whine and complain about having a bad day! Each one of us can choose to pursue our full potential – personally, in our relationships, and each day! It is totally a choice!!! Please think about that for a minute… Look, I might not be the best or the brightest, but I am absolutely determined to empty this life of every drop of potential it has in it! To be the very best I am capable of becoming in every relationship! And, God please help me, I will bring this same spirit to every day until I breathe my last breath!

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious families, and please stay well! 😊

Kev