There is no more clear incarnation of potential in this world than a new born baby. All of life opens before my newborn granddaughter just as it did for each of us at our births. What will life bring to her? What will she bring to life? Already, her mere presence has brought smiles and shouts of joy. She is, after all, that most special of beings – a baby.
Anthropologists across the world learned years ago that no matter what country or culture we are born into, we all speak the same language when it comes to babies. Whether Asian, African, European, we all utter the same sounds in the presence of a new born. We speak in soft, vowel sounds: oohs, ahhs, cooing. We are awed at the delicate strength in new life, we step back in reverence, we smile in the presence of hope.
What we know about good parenting turns out to be equally true for loving leadership: The goal is not to make someone else what we want them to be, but what they are meant to be. Natural gifts help determine destiny…
Both real life and the fictional tales spun from it are rife with tragedies of parents and leaders who 
have tried to force others into the wrong mold. Cezanne (painting’s at left and below, considered by some to be the father of modern art) was the won of parents who wanted him to be a lawyer. So did Leo Tolstoy’s, the man who gave us the great epic novel, War and Peace and other great works. Comedienne Phyllis Diller’s husband wanted her to be a housewife. To try and impose our will on others is to run the risk of interfering with God’s will, interrupting the stream of Love that flows into the spirit of each baby.
Our own gifts may enable us to live as musicians or artists. Yet the world may send us an overpowering message that we must make money doing something else. We may do the same damage to ourselves that we do to others if we ignore the voice of Love’s calling for us.
Within the universe of caregiving, some can express their gifts mopping floors and preparing food. Others, however, may fail in the operating room or in the executive suite because their gifts don’t enable them to succeed in that calling.
If this is such an obvious truth, why are so many people constantly finding themselves in the wrong job? And why are leaders forever branding some employees as failures instead of simply recognizing that the people before them are capable individuals who may be in the wrong job?
I’ve often wondered how much of the world’s heartache stems from individuals who turn to alcohol or drugs or gambling because they are so deeply unhappy with the work they have chosen. Somewhere within their hearts, perhaps these individuals suspect they have been handed precious gifts and wasted them. The pain is so great, they seek to anesthetize themselves from it.
Our gifts as caregivers will not grow by themselves. They require the constant nurturing that only Love provides.
Meanwhile, no caregiver need ever wonder if their gifts to the world are worthwhile. Anyone who dedicates themselves to Love may find they have many gifts. And whichever one they choose to live out will be the right choice in the light of Love’s grace.
Do you feel, or not feel, that you are fulfilling your life’s potential? How would you express your level of alignment with your calling?
-Erie Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
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