Perfect in Weakness

AM Psalm [70], 71 • PM Psalm 74
Wisdom 14:27-15:3 • Rom. 14:1-12 • Luke 8:26-39

Paul, in 2nd Corinthians, wrote: ...to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

This passage reminds me of my brother-in-law, Jim Harrison, a poet—his lunches and dinners, his poking fun and liking to shock, his telling me once, while fishing, that the Queen of England used the toilet the same as all of us.

Yet, after he died, he left a legacy of the spirit and mind. He loved birds and we all became birdwatchers. He did not like life indoors, and, yes, he could be crude and eat too much. Several other things didn’t work out for him. Yet, remembering the passage of Paul in 2 Corinthians and the thorn that was given in his flesh the passage also says: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

This is comforting to all of us. The passage in Corinthians says, “I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

And, here is the truth, sometimes the shingles never go away or the inability to quit smoking. That was true of my brother-in-law.

Here is one of his poems: Friends

Dogs, departed companions,
I told you that the sky would fall in
and it did. How will we see each other again
when we’re without eyes? We’ll figure it out
as we used to when you led me back
to the cabin in the forest in the dark.

Written by Rebecca Newth

Singing in the choir again!