LogoNNN
The Norfolk and Norwich Christian community website

Opinion


weakness 750pb
How can our weakness be a strength?

Andrew Frere-Smith explains why there can be some positive outcomes from the trials of the last fourteen months.

I have always enjoyed the idea of the paradox. A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to our expectation. It can even take the form of an image, like the staircase that appears to climb endlessly.
 
Pablo Picasso invented a paradox of his own when he said that ‘Everything you imagine is real’. The Greeks also enjoyed paradoxes. A classic paradox from Epimenides is the statement ‘A Cretan says: “All Cretans are liars”’.
 
One paradox that has always fascinated me is the statement ‘our strength can be our greatest weakness’. This is particularly true when I spend too much time on things I most enjoy and overlook the things I don’t!
 
Similarly, the opposite is also true - our weaknesses can be our greatest strength. Our weaknesses can humble us and remind us that we still have lots to learn. Reflecting on our weaknesses can lead us to repentance and seeking restoration both with others and with God. It can fuel our prayers and build our hope for a better tomorrow.
 
When writing to the church in Corinth, Paul explained how God had given him a physical weakness. Although Paul pleaded for a healing, God said to him, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Paul learned his lesson and went on to say, ‘For when I am weak, then I am strong’.
 
As we look to build back better, I wonder what we will learn from our Covid-19 experience, our year of weakness. Will we hold on to the qualities that have made our communities stronger? Will we continue to step forward and volunteer, looking out for the lonely, the marginalised, and the isolated? Will we have the courage to be vulnerable and acknowledge our own need of help? Will we still make people our priority and the building of a more compassionate community our goal?

If we do these things, then surely, we will build a better community and our weaknesses will indeed have become strengths.

This article has also appeared on Network Yarmouth.

The image is courtesy of Schäferle from Pixabay.com.


 

AndrewFrereSmith750Andrew Frere-Smith is Development Worker for Imagine Norfolk Together, based in Kings Lynn.

 

 




The views carried here are those of the author, not of Network Norfolk, and are intended to stimulate constructive and good-natured debate between website users. 



We welcome your thoughts and comments, posted below, upon the ideas expressed here. 


Click here to read our forum and comment posting guidelines


6402 views
To submit a story or to publicise an event please email: web@networknorwich.co.uk