Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Strength in Weakness
Sometimes I feel completely ugly. My hair is standing on end, looking like I just rolled out of bed, except that it's three-thirty in the afternoon and I'm at work. I see all the beautiful people around me and wonder how they do it.
Isaiah 53:2 'For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground: He hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.'
Sometimes I feel rejected out of hand for no reason. This makes me feel dejected and alone.
Isaiah 53:3 'He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.'
Sometimes I feel like I'm taken for granted, as if no one appreciates me.
Isaiah 53:4 'Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.'
Other times I feel tormented, as if the whole world is out to get me while others seem to benefit from my misery.
Isaiah 53:5 'But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.'
Sometimes I get blamed for something someone else did. I forgo complaining and moaning at the injustice of it all.
Isaiah 53:6 'All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.'
Often times I have felt thwarted in my endeavors, but I have stayed silent.
Isaiah 53:7 'He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers-is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.'
These are just a few examples of the human experience we all have shared. We all have had our times of want...feeling underappreciated, undervalued, like we're taking the heat for everyone else, and on and on.
If only we could capture these moments and realize we at our weakest moments such as these, are partaking of the Divine.
It is in our weaknesses, in our darkest hours, that we have the opportunity to say...this is one way I mimic the Divine.
But this is the reverse of what we normally feel.
We are conditioned to be strong, to be victorious, to be a winner!
And it is in these things we also imitate the Divine, for the Savior ultimately was strong, victorious, and winning.
But He was also as we are...fragile.
I have heard it said that there is such a thing as strength in weakness. The preceding thoughts and verses are evidence that there truly is strength in weakness.
Sometimes I feel completely ugly. My hair is standing on end, looking like I just rolled out of bed, except that it's three-thirty in the afternoon and I'm at work. I see all the beautiful people around me and wonder how they do it.
Isaiah 53:2 'For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground: He hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.'
Sometimes I feel rejected out of hand for no reason. This makes me feel dejected and alone.
Isaiah 53:3 'He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.'
Sometimes I feel like I'm taken for granted, as if no one appreciates me.
Isaiah 53:4 'Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.'
Other times I feel tormented, as if the whole world is out to get me while others seem to benefit from my misery.
Isaiah 53:5 'But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.'
Sometimes I get blamed for something someone else did. I forgo complaining and moaning at the injustice of it all.
Isaiah 53:6 'All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.'
Often times I have felt thwarted in my endeavors, but I have stayed silent.
Isaiah 53:7 'He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers-is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.'
These are just a few examples of the human experience we all have shared. We all have had our times of want...feeling underappreciated, undervalued, like we're taking the heat for everyone else, and on and on.
If only we could capture these moments and realize we at our weakest moments such as these, are partaking of the Divine.
It is in our weaknesses, in our darkest hours, that we have the opportunity to say...this is one way I mimic the Divine.
But this is the reverse of what we normally feel.
We are conditioned to be strong, to be victorious, to be a winner!
And it is in these things we also imitate the Divine, for the Savior ultimately was strong, victorious, and winning.
But He was also as we are...fragile.
I have heard it said that there is such a thing as strength in weakness. The preceding thoughts and verses are evidence that there truly is strength in weakness.
