Brown bananas under glass

My wife makes incredible desserts. And, as if the taste alone wasn’t enough to make you a raving fan, she also has a trick which makes her desserts even appealing. She puts her desserts under glass – one of these decorative glass cake stands. That’s not fair. When you do that, even Oreos look irresistible.

Our kids love her banana bread. They know that their mom has the ability to take bananas that are clearly past their prime, just days away from the dumpster, and turn them into awesome breakfast banana bread.

This past week we stepped into the kitchen and laughed. One of our kids had taken a bunch of brown bananas and placed them into that glass covered cake stand – a not so subtle hint for what they hoped would be a baking transformation.

But talk about seeing potential! Some people just see rotten bananas. Our kids see tomorrow’s breakfast. :)

One of the things I want to cultivate is the ability to see potential. Like Barnabas did with Paul. The Bible says that when Paul “came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple." (Acts 9:26).

Everyone was skeptical of Paul’s supposed conversion. No one believed that this guy, who once was bent on killing Christians, had now become one. No one, that is, except Barnabas.

"But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how [Paul] on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus." (Acts 9:27).

To most of the disciples, Paul was a liability - a disaster waiting to happen. They saw problems, but Barnabas saw potential.

The world might label you all kinds of things…

· Bruised
· Rotten
· Past your prime
· Headed for the dumpster
· Un-useable

But God sees what you could become. May we learn God’s way of seeing.