It's hard to forget the awkward first days of college. After living a fairly sheltered life, I moved halfway across the country to go college in Florida. It rained two straight weeks when I got there. Even having my best friend from high school as a roommate could not assuage my homesickness. All I wanted to do was go home and learn how to cut hair. (makes me laugh a little to think about - thank God for unanswered prayer, right?)
I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to be or to study. I started out with Youth Ministry, then Secondary Education in English and Music. Then in the second semester of freshman English comp, we had to find a paraphrase a Shakespearean sonnet. And I recall how nervous I felt when Mrs. See passed out those papers and skipped me. Everyone got their paper back but me. She gave us an assignment to begin on and came and sat at the desk in front of me, turned toward me and handed me my paper.
"Lisa, what's your major?" she asked.
Feeling the need to explain my ever-morphing educational goals, I gave her the rundown of majors past to present half hoping she'd tell me I'd finally landed on the right one.
"That's good," she replied with an "I-guess-so" expression on her face, "but here's why I ask..."
Gesturing to the paper she had just handed back to me she said, "this is beautiful."
And then the words that turned my life on a dime: "You might be a good teacher someday, but you are a writer. You should think about that."
Believe me, I did.
I wonder if we fully understand the value of believing in someone, of encouraging their dreams, of identifying their potential and narrowing their focus. At the time, any ability I had to write was such a seedling (I don't even think I got an A on that paper), but there was enough to it that a first year English teacher could scoop it out and plant it in more fertile soil.
So who in your life needs to know they have potential? Who needs the encouragement of someone seeing even the tiniest, undeveloped talent in them? The world is full of people who will tell them why they can't, what's they're doing wrong, how they ought to be. Be the one who sees what they already are, and help them become better at it.
So, my faithful tribe, you have an assignment. Prayerfully consider who needs this encouragement this week, and have the "I believe in you" conversation. When you do, report back how it goes by leaving a comment. You can be someone's Lynda See - go help them believe in themselves!