Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight.
- Helen Keller
EVERYONE you will ever meet has a deficiency or a weakness. Some hide them better than others. When someone points out that deficiency in your life, acknowledge it, and face that giant. A wise man once pointed out to me that God allows our deficiencies to surface not to embarrass us or to cause us to give up, but more appropriately to allow us to fix them, so we can be more like Him. You don't have to be weak to have weaknesses, but do not let them have control.
Helen Keller knew about weaknesses and deficiencies, but overcame them and became a great orator, author, and developed several foundations. The order of the Southern Cross was conferred upon her because of her charitable work. It wasn't always this way. Up until the age of 2 years old, Helen was a perfectly normal child. Then at the age of two years old, she contracted a very high fever that left her both blind and dumb (speechless). She began to throw tantrums because of the frustration that she faced because that she was now unable to communicate. It wasn't until Anne Sullivan came and made her realize that these disabilities did not make her worthless. These deficiencies caused her to learn patience, allowing a new insight about the value of not letting weaknesses to overcome her.
Even if life starts out normal, and takes a terrible turn, we can make it! We need to be aware that trials come to make us strong. The Bible says, "Greater is He that is in us, than He that is in the world."
10 comments:
Dude you hit the ball out of the park on that one. Great post.
La suite d'hier? En tous les cas, pour moi il me semble. Encore une fois - en plein milieu.
Mark-Thanks Bro. Sometimes I get these inspirations.
Catherine-je n'ai pas pense que c'etait la suite d'hier, mais je crois bien que tu as raison.
This line really caught me, "You don't have to be weak to have weaknesses." I think that is such an important statement. Most people tend to believe if they have a weakness they are weak. Thanks for such a great post that gives us courage and faith to honestly deal with our weaknesses/deficiencies. Awesome, my dear.
Jana- Thank you love! You may not believe this but you are one of the strongest people that I know! I love you!
Great quote, Great story of hope.
A tree bends many times during a strong storm but when the storm is over, the tree has gained a new strength that will take it through the hardships of another of life's storms. Your writing just strengthens our faith, and reassures us that we will make it through. Love your writings.
Great blog Bro. Allard! You people in California have to stop writing such great blogs! I'm NEVER going to get any homework done this way!
Hi Brain. I've read this one several times. On one hand, I totally agree. Great. Good. Excellent point. (And all that) On the other I wonder if feelings of deficiency aren't a result of society's (and the church's) over-stressing individualism. If we are a part of the community (or the "body"), why does any one given person hold the blame (bad word, huh?) for his/her own deficiency, especially if that deficiency is something over which he/she has no control. Don't we all have different functions? Don't our collective strengths negate individual weaknesses? I don't mean we don't have individual responsibility for our own actions and attitudes. Of course we do. But some of this talk of deficiency may be due to feeling that we don't belong to the group unless we are perfect, which is sick, sick misunderstanding of community. See what I mean? I thinks it's too easy to look at Helen Keller and say, if she can do it, anyone can. Hog feathers.
Pastor Allard,
I love this blog. I also love how its through our "weakness" God gets the most glory. In our strengths we tend to overlook His power but its a matter of choice.. You can either hit the ground and think of it as a fall. Or you can hit the ground on your knees and think of it as a different way of standing. =)
-Kissa
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