Humiliation as a gift. Now that's a new idea. "He gives you the gift of humiliation which brings the softness of heart that will always listen to God now" -- Oswald.
My pastor's sermon this morning was entitled, "The Glorious Defeat," and I was installed as an elder at my church. It's Valentine's Day, which also happens to be two of my children's birthdays. I'm trying to put all this together -- trying to listen for God in my life.
The text this morning was from 2 Corinthians 12:9: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." As I was listening to the questions for ordination, I was struck by how appropriate that passage was. I am not up to the task -- the task of being an elder, the task of parenting teenagers, the task of bringing glory to an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, majestic Being.
We all want to be winners, Pastor John said, but winning may very well not be what God wants for our lives. We think we are going to succeed based on our strengths. God's power is made perfect in our weakness. What a paradox. Oswald's passage today comes from the book of Matthew when Jesus is sending the twelve disciples out to preach in his name. He tells them to expect tough times. I wonder if they realized that the tough times would, in part, be due to their own weaknesses, that they wouldn't really be up to the task.
Give me, Lord, a soft heart -- one which is ever aware of my frailty and hence hyper-sensitive to my need for you. I want to be a listener.
Barbara
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