Monday, September 5, 2011

Potential.


I have been racking my brain for a while to think of what in the whole world inspires me.  What is it, more than anything, that gets me going.  I thought through most every spectrum of my life to think of a common thread that ties the all together.  Finally I got it: potential.

By trade, I’m a wife, mother, crafter, runner, community organizer.  Throughout each of the things I’m involved with, something has to keep me going.  Because I don’t have a boss hanging over my head or a time clock to punch in to, the responsibility of staying inspired daily lies on my shoulders.  

My husband makes fun of me often, as a good husband should.  Just yesterday, he rolled his eyes and got borderline mad when I told him that yes, I did, in fact, want to keep the Trader Joe’s bags.  He let me keep 1, oh gracious soul that he is.  As I was driving around town Saturday, I passed, as we all do, a pile of supposed junk on the side of the road.  I stopped and found something I’d been looking for for a while: a low coffee table (though I was not necessarily looking for one covered in old wall paper and dirt).  At The Free Store, one of the most inspiring places I’ve been, I happened upon an old bulletin board and happily toted it home with me.  Nothing special about it, just thought it might be useful.

Are you following me here?  All these things are trash.  Seriously.  They are.  Things that people discard in some way or another.  What I love about these things, however, is that they hold such great potential.  The Trader Joe’s bag (notice it is singular) will become wrapping paper.  The old coffee table- a train table for my little guy.  The bulletin board- a colorful and exciting to-do list so I can keep myself organized and, well, inspired to keep going.

And as people, aren’t we all that way?  We often feel discarded.  We go through relationships and feel beaten down.  We throw things away and wait on the city to come pick them up.  It’s not until we change our perspective that suddenly even the most mundane situations/items/seasons of life can become beautiful again.  Marriage is challenging but is made beautiful by the potential of what could be.  Parenting is hard, but is made beautiful by the potential of who our children will become.  Running can indeed be boring until we realize how far we’ve come.  Thankfully, we have not been forgotten.  We have a God that senses that same potential in each of us.  My hope is to transfer that hope into something tangible, something hopeful, something to be a reminder of the good people are capable of.

~Liz Eagle


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