Journal of Sacred Work

Note: Today’s Meditation was written
and edited by Catherine Self based on the writings of Erie Chapman (in quotes) on High
Purpose Leadership and on her own reflections.

“We are all so much
stronger than we think we are.” – Norman Cousins

  What is the potential of one adolescent girl to influence the world? According to the dictionary, potential is “that which is
possible, as opposed to actual; capable of being or becoming, a possibility” (http://www.dictionary.reference.com).
Playing with a thesaurus suggests the word latent, meaning “existing but not
presently evident or realized” (http://www.visualthesaurus.com).
Erie Chapman once asked me what I thought my potential in life might be. No one
had ever asked that of me before, well at least not so directly. I was not sure
how to even begin to answer!…

   As a young teen I remember visiting the prospect of my
potential about every 6 weeks during the school year. Perhaps you heard these
words as well… “these are good grades, but you are not living up to your
potential.” When, as an adult, I was asked about my potential, the challenge
being suggested was that, even at a mature age, there was still within me
something that existed but that had not yet been fully realized. 
    In Erie’s words, “What is the potential in a person? If, as Cousins said, we
are all so much stronger than we think we are, then we have so much more
potential than we think we have. We use such tiny percentages of the strength of our bodies, minds and
potential emotions.”

   Imagine waking on Christmas morning to find dozens of
wrapped presents waiting to be enjoyed.  Would you even consider leaving any of
those presents unopened? Yet, most of us “unwrap just a small number of the
presents that have been placed under our tree of life. It is almost endemic to
our human nature for us to constantly underestimate, and under utilize, our
potential. In any case, one of the most powerful questions in our lives surely
is what is our potential?”
    “Personal commitment and passion, are simply ways to draw out our
potential. In other words, if we are
personally committed, we will strive to use our best gifts to meet our
commitment. If we are passionate, our passion will draw our best abilities,
People who are passionately committed are always trying to use the best in
themselves, People without passion or commitment die with their best gifts
still wrapped up inside.”
    When we talk of radical loving care, we are speaking of a
gift that can be unwrapped and given to all who seek our care. Yet we, at
times, find ourselves doubting that such a gift truly exists or that it can be
completely shared. Imagine today’s world if many of those who have carried the
golden thread before us had succumbed to doubt and failed to live into their
own potential. Imagine our lives without the realized potential of individuals
like Abraham Lincoln, Mother Theresa, Beethoven, and Gandhi.
    “Gandhi was, undoubtedly, one of the millennium’s greatest
leaders yet he was born to an ordinary family in an ordinary corner of the
world and was an ordinary student in school. No one could have predicted
his greatness and no one could have imagined that he could have drawn such
strength from his seemingly ordinary mind and heart. Through Gandhi’s example
of nonviolent resistance and his belief in the potential of his people to rule
themselves, over four hundred million Indians were freed from British rule. Of this extraordinary accomplishment Gandhi wrote: I have not the shadow of a doubt that any
man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make the same effort
and cultivate the same hope and faith.”
    Do we dare to believe his words? Do we dare to believe in
consistent expressions of loving care from every caregiver in each of our
organizations? “What is our story? What is our song? What is the music of our
life and the potential that lies within? Can we realize a great dream together?
“We know that all the gold is there, planted by God. Will we find it? Will we
use it for good, or will it remain forever buried? What are the gifts that
currently sit unwrapped, right now, in each of our lives?”
    May the following words spoken by a young woman, wise beyond
her years be an encouragement and blessing to each of you today:
"Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The
good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love!
What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!" -Anne Frank 

-Catherine Self