Maybe it’s the idealist in me, or perhaps it’s my passion for developing people, but I often am frustrated when I feel people aren’t living up to the potential I see in them. Honestly, maybe it’s the expectations that I have created for them in my head. 

I am not irritated with the person necessarily, but just the idea that I see what could be and the qualities that they might not even see in themselves and when they aren’t necessarily living that out, I feel defeated. I desperately want them to see what I see in them and forget that true, honest development takes time, care, guidance, encouragement. 

If I am being really honest, I think that I might create these idealistic expectations for myself as well, which could be why I am such a terrible personal goal setter and obtainer – I get frustrated when I am not living up to my “potential” and instead of resetting, I just give up. I have a serious lack of internal motivation. 

God, the ultimate developer of people, constantly meets us where we are. Throughout history, he has shown us that this is His character. 

From the beginning of time, even before the fall, God physically walked alongside Adam and Eve in the garden. After the fall, when Adam and Eve realized they were naked, God did not leave them to suffer in their nakedness but instead gave them clothes to wear. 

Jesus dining and reclining with tax collectors and sinners, sitting with the adulterous woman at the well who no one else would interact with, and calling on 12 societal rejects (and not asking them to clean up their acts first) to be his closest friends are pretty shining examples of this as well. 

There were times when Jesus would reprimand these people and call them out on their transgressions, and yet other times he would lead them gently with questions or sermons down a path of growth until they finally saw the light. 

I had one of my moments of frustration recently that quickly turned into a confusing, prideful, downward spiral of a thought process. I still saw people for what they could be and how they could grow, and instead of helping them get there, I scolded them in my head for not doing the things I wanted them to do when I wanted them to do it. 

Defeated, I decided it would just be easier if I took on everything myself if I just stepped up and showed them how simple it was, that they would be like, “Duh! I can do that!” and step up on their own. 

But that’s now how people work. That’s not how I work, it’s not how you work. We are creatures of habit, people who are safe in the comfort of what we know, afraid that even then tiniest step outside of our bubbles will lead to the destruction of the ease we’ve come to know and love. 

Instead, how can I help people experience Jesus by my words and actions? How can I call them out in correction when they need it and how can I gently lead them with questions and next steps until they realize the potential they had all along? How can I love on them until they realize the worth the savior of the world saw in them first? 

“Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” – Luke 9:23

May we daily deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus so that we may bring others closer to Him.