Having a chit chat moment with one of my best friends, I tell her, "I see you as what you can be not just what you are or who you are"
You see, almost everytime we're catching up on each other's lives and eventually get to the part where we talk about the men in her life. Most of the time, it's that someone is always proposing to her. Like serious marriage proposals. So everytime I'm like, "How are you always meeting this kind of men?" And this time was no different. She responded, "I'm wife material 1000 yards", which is just an expression that means you're authentic and of worth.
The mood on the day we were having the chat was a very carefree, light and playful one as is usual amongst friends.
After she made that statement, a part of me wanted to say something silly and witty like, "Who dash you?" which basically means, "Not true". However, I didn't bother typing that and I ended up sending a laughing emoji and ending it with, "True though". To that she says, "Ah you believe sef." Of which I respond, "I see you as what you can be not just what you are."
You know why? I realised it's so easy to look at people in their current state and conclude that absolutely nothing good can come from them or that they can't amount to anything, maybe because they don't look like it.
You know, I think of the story of King David of whom it was sung defeated tens of thousands and grew to become a mighty warrior, conqueror and King. It's so easy to get lost in the majesty of his victories and forget the dry years of obscurity where absolutely no one saw the potential for more other than God.
He was the last child and son of the eight sons of Jesse. The careless way to which he was referred makes me think he was likely overlooked especially given his position in the family. He was probably undervalued and quite frankly, used. David was the one who kept the sheep unlike his brothers who fought in the army as soldiers. He was therefore seen as weak and only fit to be nothing more than a shepherd boy.
When Samuel came to anoint a new king, he too was carried away by how formidable and strong David's brothers looked. Infact, when Samuel told Jesse to sanctify himself and his sons to accompany him to make sacrifices to God, he didn't even think to call for David, David was not even regarded at all untill the very last minute.
Unlike our present day now, if a notable prophet is coming to the house, especially if you were raised in a christian family, I bet the parents would ensure that every member of the family was present and accounted for to be blessed by the prophet. But that was not the case here with David.
After all 7 sons had passed and God still hadn't made His choice, Samuel just had to ask, "Are these all your children?" Then, it was remembered that there was the youngest who tended the sheep. Thank God he atleast had a beautiful countenance or perhaps, he might have been forgotten altogether.
In fact as you continue reading, you'll see that when Israel faced the philistines, David's brothers, three of them to be precise went to fight in the war. Jesse, their father out of love and care sends David to go and find out what had become of his brothers. Now, he gets there and he is shocked at the blatant disregard that the philistine champion, Goliath has for God or the armies of the Living God.
David begins to make enquiries as to what prize would be given to the one who defeats Goliath. Eventually, his brother heard of it and was quick to reprimand him. You know the statement that really struck me? "Whom has thou left the sheep with?"
That was a obvious reminder to David that he was nothing more than a sheep keeper. A common shepherd. David is like, "What have I done to warrant such degradatory speech? Is there not enough a valid cause for me to be here?"
Even Goliath himself didn't even see David as anything. I quote, "And when the Philistine looked around and saw David, he scorned and despised him, for he was but an adolescent with a healthy reddish color and a fair face."
So you see even, "The champion" didn't think he was up to the task, his family didn't think so and certainly not King Saul.
I can bet that on every side, David was confronted with people who saw him only as he was and not as what he could be.
A defender, a mighty warrior and of course, a great King.
In our present world where we are so carried away by visual, it's so easy to be blinded to the potentials and values in people just because they don't look like "It".
So recently I told God, "Help me to see people not just as they are but as what they could be". I don't just wanna look and see the physical, I want to see beyond that to what lies within and even ahead.
It's like what God told Samuel when he thought Eliab was the one because he looked the part. God told him, "For the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the state of the heart".
With the right amount of training and teaching blended with a good and healthy environment saturated in love and positivity, a nobody can become somebody.
I hope as we go about our activities, as we bump into an old class mate or interact with the neighborhood kids, as we buy from the hawker on the street and pass by the gate man on the way in or as we brush by humanity in one way, form or the other, we can see people not just as what or who they are but as what or who they can become whether they look the part or not.
The seed of greatness is embedded in us all. Can you not see it?
The potential for more is in all of us, shall you not perceive it?
Remember, man looks outward but God looks inward.
YOU ARE MORE THAN YOU ARE!
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