Potential

“You’ve got so much potential!”

“Why, thank you!”

Have you ever told someone that they have potential? You probably said it as a compliment, remarking that their future looks bright. That you see something wonderful in them that will continue to be developed and shared with others. Has anyone ever told you that you have potential? It probably made you feel good, proud about who you are. Or… maybe it caused you to think twice.

We all want potential… don’t we?

Is potential always a good thing?

The first meaning of potential certainly is positive. Potential conveys hope for tomorrow. It carries a sense of the future, a good future. We do want potential because we want our tomorrows to hold great promise and success. We want to see potential in our children and youth; it gives us confidence for the coming years.

But maybe you’ve told someone that they have potential because, today, they don’t have much talent for one thing or another. Potential here means that perhaps they might be better in the future than they are now.

Synonyms for potential include latent…dormant…currently unexpressed ability…un-actualized possibility…not currently present but possibly apparent later.

“Potential” can leave us wondering about the present.

This doesn’t mean we should stop using or receiving the word “potential” as a compliment. God sees potential in us. God believes that tomorrow and the next day we might love God and love others more than we did today. That in the future we might live our lives in ways that embody more of God’s ideal world.

God sees this potential, but God also loves who we are today. God is not waiting for us to realize our potential before God can use us to do God’s work in the world. God sees in us both gifts for today and potential for the future.

This is the kind of perspective shift we need, particularly in our attitude toward children and youth. These young members of our communities and our churches are not only the future, they are our today, too. Let not our penchants for perceiving potential prevent us from appreciating the beauty and contribution that our youth – and any of us – can offer today.

No matter our age, we all have not only potential for the future, but also a contribution for the present.