Finding Strength in Weakness

The late George Buttrick, an acclaimed preacher, and professor at Harvard University used to tell an apocryphal story. This story of course did not make its way into the Bible but was nonetheless very poignant. The story goes that one day Jesus came across a bird sitting on the ground in obvious frustration. The bird said that all had been well when it was young and had no heavy wings at its sides. But then these “burdens” had grown. The bird was resentful of having them as a part of his body. Jesus neither condemned nor laughed at the bird, but responded by telling him that what felt like heavy burdens were in fact instruments of a new kind of power. He then proceeded to show the bird how to use those wings to fly. And so it goes that what had once seemed like a burden, ultimately allowed the bird to soar the heights of the sky.

This story just reminds me that our burdens, past failures, and mistakes can actually become points of strength.

Many of the folks I know who have the deepest faith have also been the same folks who have endured some of life’s difficult challenges and even tragedies.

As Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The world breaks everyone, but many are strong in the broken places.”

May you become strong in the broken places, and may you use that strength to reach out and help the next person through.

Let us pray:   God of Grace, we thank you that you are with us – even in our pain. Forgive the sins we carry and heal the wounds of our souls. Strengthen us so that we can be an instrument of your grace for others; through Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.