Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, "The LORD has not chosen these." So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?"

There is still the youngest," Jesse answered, "but he is tending the sheep."

Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives." 1 Sam 16:10-11

In the Biblical account of when King David was anointed king of Israel, the passage above pops up. His father, Jesse, knows that one of his sons will be king some day, but he's not sure which one. It is quite apparent that he didn't think it would be his youngest son, David, because he doesn't have him pass by the prophet Samuel. Why?

The only thing I could come up with that makes sense is that he had missed David. Jesse had the next King of Israel under his roof and he didn't even know it. Have you ever done that? Have you ever missed someone close to you, missed their talents, misunderstood who they really are? In the movie Miss Potter, Beatrix Potter's mother completely misses her. And that's what MovedMe while watching it.

I have a vague recollection of the books Potter has written, which is to say I remember the paintings of Peter Rabbit and Potter's other characters. But I had no idea she was such a prolific children's writer, nor of the difficulties she went through in her day and age to become one. Apparently, at least in the movie version of her story, her mother didn't know either. At one point in the movie her mother asks her how she can afford to purchase a farm. Her father responds by saying something like, "Helen, our daughter is a famous children's writer and it seems you are the only one that doesn't know it!"

The extra features on this DVD also point to the fact that everyone knows about Beatrix's great talent except her mother. In one of the features, person after person is listed as helping young Beatrix grow in her craft: her Father, a postman/artist/conservationist, another famous artist, etc. But her mother is interestingly absent from that list. Maybe, as in the movie, her mother thought her drawings were "cute" but not "great art."

This is way more common than we might think. As, for example, in the story of Cinderella where the Prince comes to find his Princess and asks for all the daughters to be brought to him to try the slipper. Cinderella's stepmother brings out her daughters and leaves out Cinderella. Later someone asks if these are all of her daughters and, like the story of David being anointed in the Bible, Cinderella is remembered and revealed.

There is also the saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt," which basically means the more we know someone the more ordinary they seem to us, even if they are actually extraordinary. This happened even to Jesus in Luke 4 where he went to his home town right before he started his ministry years. The townspeople end up saying with contempt, "Isn't this plain old Joseph's son? The one we saw running around here with a runny nose when he was a boy?" (My paraphrase.) In other words, there is no way that this guy we saw growing up could be anything special, because we know him too well.

I think that's what happens with Beatrix Potter's mother, Helen. She doesn't see Beatrix as an extraordinary artist, storyteller, or person. To some extent it also happens with the publishers, the Warne brothers, who don't really get the whole concept of her books. In fact, the only reason they sign her up is because they want to foist her "silly little books" on their little brother, in whom they don't believe either. Isn't it ironic that the elder Warne brothers almost missed Potter's genius when those little books I'm sure made them a fortune?

All this to say that I do the very same thing with my sons. Living with them day to day, it is so very easy to just see them as snot-nosed kids when really they are image-bearers of God with talents and gifts and a purpose beyond their flaws. My wife often has to remind me of how extraordinary my son Josh is when I'm getting upset with him. And he is! As one example, this last year he was in a 1st/2nd grade split class as a 1st grader. Guess what. He held his own and then some... excelling in so many categories. He's an excellent drawer and storyteller, much like Beatrix Potter.

Who do you have in your life that you are completely missing? They may be the next King David or Beatrix Potter or maybe not... but I do know that each of us is extraordinary because we were made in the image of God! Let's treat each other that way, shall we?