Paige Byrne Shortal reflects on today’s Gospel as she speaks to the nature of seeing potential in people. When her sons were teenagers, they invited their pastor over for dinner, and during his visit, they gave him a tour of their rooms. Now these were typical boys who struggled to keep the room from being messy and of course, it was during the pastor’s visit. But something interesting happened. After he made the tour, he spoke of “how cool” one of them was. Paige couldn’t believe anything was cool in those “pig sty’s.” Later she went up to look for herself and for the first time saw what the pastor saw. Every inch of the wall and ceiling was covered with cartoons, paintings, quotes in calligraphy, and her son’s own photographs. Paige learned that it is important to see beyond the dirty laundry of our lives. Consider how ill-suited the Twelve were for the job of apostleship. Yet Jesus saw something in them – he saw their potential. It’s so very important for the potential to be noticed by the right person – the teacher, the counselor, the coach, or the pastor or parent. It can make all the difference in someone’s life.