Of nuts and more

The following is an excerpt from an interview with Bono in The Observer:

'He [Anton Corbijn, U2's longtime photographer] shoots the music you are making, who you can be rather than who you are.'

Perhaps the most definitive illustration of that gift was his now iconic image of U2 that graced the cover of their breakthrough album, The Joshua Tree, in 1987: four stern figures in a barren and biblical desert landscape.

'It was Anton who sent us down that dusty road.'


Soo-Inn once wrote in his e-commentary:

In this regard I can now better understand why Barnabas treated John Mark the way he did in Acts 15:36-41... Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with him and Paul on their next mission trip. Paul said no because John Mark had let them down before. I am sure both Paul and Barnabas had good reasons for their respective decisions.

Paul saw John Mark as he was. But Barnabas saw John Mark in terms of what he could be. As it turns out, Barnabas' decision helped John Mark to develop and grow so that later, even Paul acknowledged his worth (see Colossians 4:10 and 2 Timothy 4:11).

In a world that is moving increasingly faster, we often have to size up people quickly. In doing so it is easier to judge a person on the basis of what he or she is. And was. It is harder to take the longer view of seeing a person in terms of what he or she could be.

But none of us come ready made. We all start out as unrealized potential that takes a lifetime to unpack. We all need Barnabas' who will see us and treat us in light of our potential if we are to grow into that potential. We need folks who will not view us purely from the perspective of our mistakes but from the perspective of what we can be.

Unfortunately an increasingly competitive and fast moving world gives little encouragement for such a grace. If people do not shape up quickly they are written off. This is a sad paradox because an increasingly complex and needy world actually needs more creative and mature people in every sphere of human endeavour. But often, we first encounter such people as rough diamonds.


So yes, we're mostly nuts with yet unknown potential. Will we grow into mighty trees, or atrophy and die? Or worse still, lie dormant, unwilling to develop?

Indeed, we need Anton Corbijns and Barnabases in our lives, to encourage us and push us onwards to realise what we can become. The road will be dusty and dark, but once we have taken root, we will begin to shoot. And after that, blossom and offer our branches to the birds of the air.

Oh, and here's a distant analogy, but maybe, just maybe, we may even grow some yellow flowers, the petals of which will fall and pave the ground with gold, blessing others along the way.