I was exploring Facebook this morning as I am often wont to do.  I love not only catching up on what my friends are doing, but I also enjoy seeing what other people find inspirational.  Today I watched a video about a guy who was contacted randomly through social media by someone in Liberia.  The author filmed his experience and decided to see what would happen if he responded, figuring that at the very least he would occupy some of the other guy’s time and keep him from scamming someone else.

The author was pleasantly surprised when the advice he sent to the guy in Liberia was welcomed and embraced and ended up creating a project that delivered close to $500 dollars in donations used to help school kids in the local community.  The author ended the video with this quote:

“When you give someone a chance, sometimes they’re not who you thought they were.  Sometimes they surprise you and sometimes you end up being the answer to their prayers.”

There are two powerful layers in this observation that spoke to me.  First is the notion that if I allow myself to give someone the benefit of the doubt, they will surprise me with what they are able to do.  I have often written about our desire to be the judge of others, only to fail them and ourselves because we are not willing or able to judge potential.  We can only judge what is presented to us in the most superficial way.  Yet we are not called to judge, we are called to love.  And only love will allow for potential to be realized.

But even more powerful is the opportunity to be the answer to someone else’s prayers.  We sell our potential short when we sell others short.  Not believing in others means that we don’t believe in our own ability to bring out the best in them.  One of the things I find fascinating about the teachings of Jesus was his openness to being surprised by the potential of others—he was willing to not judge a book by its cover and in doing so allowed others to reach deeper than they, or others, thought possible.  Jesus was fulfilling his mission of being the answer to others’ prayers, but only in giving them the opportunity to realize the fullness of their own gifts.

So this is a classic win-win situation.  I let others surprise me and they get to realize their full potential by giving me the learning experience of being the support they needed.  How can I not want that to happen?  I grow and they grow and at the end of the day isn’t that why we are all here?  We show the power of love that Jesus showed and we are all uplifted.