I love being a professor. I get to work with wonderful students every day. At my college, we take students who have finished High School. That’s it, finished High School. You see we have open enrollment. We are the place that gives everyone a chance.
I see such potential and intelligence in my students, often when they cannot see it themselves. Many grow up in poverty or near poverty and have not had a great deal of educational support at home. It is not because those with students don’t have good parents, it is just that parents who work at minimum wage or low paying jobs all day, are tired when they get home and they don’t have the benefits of large libraries at home or the energy to continue the educational process at home.
I grew up in a home like that, we didn’t have a lot of money and my parents worked every day, not getting home until 6 pm. My good fortune was to have a brother 8 years older who loved to read, so I read his books. And a creative mother who knew I could get my beloved Hardy Boys books at used book stores. But, I was one of my students in so many ways. Then, God smiled on me by providing a coach, a high school counselor and a Dean of Admissions at Baylor University, all of whom took a chance on me, seeing in me what I could not see in myself.
So I do this with my students when they are new or struggling. I have them take a deep breath and then let it out. Then I ask them to show me air. They look at me as if I am crazy (which might not be too far off the mark on any given day) and I say to them. Just because you cannot see it does not mean that it does not exist. I go on to tell them that I can see things in them (which I can) that they cannot yet see in themselves. I encourage them to believe my vision until they gain their own.
I learned this approach because it is how God deals with me and with you I am willing to bet. God has seen things in me that I have taken years to arrive at, but God has not been wrong. You know this is true don’t you? Of course you do, we call it Grace. Unmerited favor, the Love of God. Join me in giving this same gift to all we meet. Let’s see the potential that God sees in each and every person.
TMM