As I walked through the kitchen of the church building, I noticed some dirty dishes in the sink, so I decided to wash them. When I was done, I went to the tea towel drawer and pulled out the most threadbare, worn-out piece of cloth that I had ever seen. This towel had a hole in the middle of it and I could see through the rest of it. It was so fragile that it tore as I unfolded it.
Holding that dish towel, I had two thoughts. First, we can do better than this. There is likely room in the budget for a towel that is not more air than towel. Second, I want to be friends with whoever put this towel in the drawer. Someone, at some point, washed that tea towel, saw the holes and how thin it was getting and then said, “We better keep this. There is still some good left in it!”
You want a friend like that, right? You want people in your life who can see your faults and your shortcomings and still say, “There is a lot of good there yet!” We need people who do not just look at the facts as they are, but who can see what could be. We need those who recognize how much struggle and effort it took to get to where we are now even if we still have some work to do. We need people with gracious eyes, not judgmental ones.
The bigger challenge is to be that type of person for others.
If you were to come to my office, you would find a see-through tea towel with holes in it sitting on my desk. I am keeping it as a reminder of what kind of person I want to be. I want to be someone who sees potential and thinks in terms of hope. What about you?
“May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word” (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17).
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