Each morning infinite possibilities await me, sufficient to require discipline and muted enthusiasm, if I am to fully maximize this gift of a new day! I seldom think of sunrise as holding a task to be completed, for it seems impossible to think of my calling as work.
I prefer to think of myself, too highly I know, like a bird dog on point; deeply conditioned with a desire to please, nervously awaiting the trainer’s signal to flush a newly scented covey. Every muscle restrained, a learned skill heightened by memories of loss when previously the prize was prematurely aroused. Frozen in time, the working canine awaits, nose pressed into the scent, eyes moving only slightly to gain peripheral assurance that everyone is positioned for the kill.
Perhaps I got a little carried away with my metaphor, even a trace of arrogance! Let’s call it confession, as once again, these thoughts were aroused after spending time with my leather bound friend, lifting the worn cloth marker from her spine, and with baited breath, opening this treasure chest of wisdom. The scriptures, now for over 45 years!
Somehow I have held on to the habit of scripture, rather than the occasionally recommended Bible study that seems shortly therein another rendering of the same stories. Fresh fire is what I find in my blind reading, new each morning though I travel a well worn path, fully expecting guidance from the Spirit. Somewhere in each morning, I will be captured by a phrase and my ruminating begins. Like a heifer chewing her cud, I allow this ancient text to render new thoughts, as I await beneficial application.
This a.m. the concept of weakness, in fact, the power of weakness was elevated in this 70 year old, now more easily entertained as I age. I found myself reflecting on moments witnessed in days gone by, as esteemed leaders struggled with the very tool so divinely designed to bring wisdom to themselves and others, were they only willing to be transparent. Much of my life has been spent in the role of second fiddle, providing painful first hand opportunity to witness as promising men and women, chose success and personal esteem over the value ad of wisdom. Ironically, they often self destruct over time, and all out of fear of exposure to this common trait called weakness.
That foolish pride which at times caused me to believe I could prevent any premature harm during their window of learning, now causes me grief of my own. For when the two met, my pride and their fear, missed moments occurred, that could have, and with with far less pain, produced rich deposits of wisdom. Wisdom is the only product that transcends one’s lifetime, though she requires her own toll, honesty with ourselves and those blindly following.
“That is why for Christ’s sake”, Paul explains, ” I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12: 10 NIV.