Calling Out The Best

The best friends I have are able to see in me things I cannot see in myself. My good friends saw abilities in me before I ever saw them myself. Good friends saw things down the road the common acquaintances never could have seen in me. 

Once people who know me well do see those things, the truly good friends began to call those things out of me. Anthony deMello said, "A friend calls forth, creates, a quality that he sees in me."

Today, I am reminded of God's great love as revealed in his nicknaming Peter. Peter is this fearful and impulsive (at best) man. Jesus sees in Peter what Peter never saw in himself. Jesus saw in Peter what nobody around him could see. Jesus calls Peter a "rock". 

I also notice Peter does not instantaneously become a solid rock to prove his new nickname. It does take time for him to change and become what his new nickname says he is. When Jesus calls out of me something I never saw in myself, there is time to become what he saw in me.

Allowing for that time is connected to the level of trust I have for the things Jesus sees in and calls out of me.