Potential

They say: An apple a day keeps the doctor away. -Have you ever looked at the pips in an apple?
I mean really looked at them and realized that in every little seed there lies enormous potential....

Everybody has potential.It is something we are born with. The inherent ability to become more than we are and be all that we were intended to be. You are definitely not there yet!

One little apple seed has the ability to produce a tree full of beautiful apples, which in turn could produce more trees full of apples.... One can actually say that within one apple seed lies the potential to produce an orchard full of apples trees!

When it comes to us as humans, the possibilities are equally endless. You never know before the time what potential you, or someone else really has. When you buy a packet of seed, the name of the flower or vegetable, as well as a photo of what you can expect, normally gets printed on the outside. With humans, we have no clear picture and no description of possibilities before hand. We have no way to know for sure what we could become.

There is a limit to our potential, but why do we tend to limit ourselves? Why do we look at others and compare ourselves with what they have accomplished over the span of many years?

I remember sitting in the office of the leader of a big and successful organization in Singapore many years ago: He was explaining the structure and function of this institution to a small group of young leaders. While I sat there, listening eagerly and taking notes, my heart sank in my shoes as I doubted my abilities, wondering how I ever will be able to lead and develop something similar to what he was describing to us.

Just as I felt really down and discouraged, it dawned on me that what I was looking at was the product of many years of planning and growth! There is no way that I could start where this man was at that point!! He did not start there and he was not the same man that he was ten years ago when he started out either. I realized that your ability grows, according to your function and the level of responsibility that you are willing to take.

You need to take responsibility for your own abilities and possibilities. Only then will your potential be realized. If we do not take responsibility for our abilities, potential eventually dies - like a seed squashed, or thrown into the dustbin.

"The death of a seed, is the burial of a forest."
-Myles Munroe.