The Best In You

“When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.”

-William Arthur Ward

              Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working hard to intentionally help the students at the rec. center to become stronger readers. I’ve made individual plans for each of them, and have been tracking their progress so as to better help me evaluate how I can help them best. We’re still in the beginning stages, and so it’s often a struggle with some of them. Most are still learning to read, which, in case you’ve forgotten over the years, is extremely hard and frustrating when you’re just beginning.

              We’ve been coming every week since the start of the school year, and so my heart has grown quite attached to each kid. I wholeheartedly want the best for each of them. Playing games with them and listening to their stories brings me so much joy. Laughing a dancing with them are always highlights. I want to be a part of their happiness, but because I care about them, I also want to be a part of their struggle. I want to enter into their process and fight to overcome, even when they don’t want to.

              However, part of wanting the best for someone, especially when they are fighting against it, is seeking to discover the best in them that already exists. Too often I find, even myself, falling into this mindset of service and superiority. I’m trying to help them. I’m doing them a service. They are lucky that I care. There’s a problem with that. I’m starting them out at a loss, and trying to give them more. It fails to acknowledge all the value and beauty that is already there. One must seek to discover the beauty that already exist in every person. And we must start with that beauty. Our approach much change to, “I see this beauty in you, and I desire to see it blossom in you even more.” “I love this beauty that I see in you, but I also see who you are becoming, and I love that too.”

              The crazy thing about this approach, is that it changes us, too; and brings out the best in ourselves as well. It starts by humbling us. No longer am I helping out of service, but out of genuine love. This mindset also offers grace in our own lives. It allows us to view ourselves in a new light. We can take our flaws and not be overwhelmed by them, but rather see them in light of who we are, and who, by God’s grace, He is continuing to make us into.

              These children have and continue to be such a blessing to me. They continue to teach and grow me in such beautiful ways. But what about you? Who are the people God has put in your life? How are you approaching your relationship and fellowship with them? Are you seeking to see the best in others? We are all flawed people who need a lot of work. There will be always be aspects in others that you wish would change, but how are you approaching that? Are you simply leaving it at just what they need and how they should change? Or are you also seeking to discover the beauty that already resides in them? I have given my students more grace since they are so young, but it is teaching me lessons that I need to extend to others. It’s humbling me in ways that challenge how I view others, and my need of His great grace in my heart. It’s showing the ugly in my heart, and my need to listen when Paul writes in Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”