In the process of rebuilding the strength in my left knee, my physical therapist found that he was confronted with the paradox of my optimism and confidence and the harsh reality of where the knee was physically. Tom chose to give me insight into the true picture; very ugly.
I am now facing a choice. Either I put in the gym working on the exercises or I accept the fact that I will walk, exercise, and sleep with a nagging injury that never quite healed. The difficult part is that until my choice plays itself out, my weakness is such that I could easy wreck everything that has been done so far. In my moments of indecision, I could destroy what is already there. I am getting old! I can rebuild, but is it worth it?
Before you find too much humor in this, remember that you face the same question every day. We all do in a spiritual sense. We are weak no matter how strong we try to become; I think there is enough evidence around us to avoid piling on. We have destroyed things; our selves, relationships, and opportunities all lie shattered in our history. We continually struggle between the God of peace, love, compassion and the god of achievement, do it yourself happiness, and craving fulfillment. We want to become what we thing we could be, but we are in a constant rebuilding process. We often try to ignore how weak we are; yet in our hearts we know. We see and we feel sick because it is ugly.
God seems something quite different. God sees a created being that he considers his friend and child. He knows we are weak, even more than we do ourselves. He understands that we will fail again, more clearly than anyone else. His vision is that we are fully restored in everyway. The big question is if and when. Your decision and mine determines the “if”, and the when can be now, right now.
“God-devotion makes a country strong; God-avoidance leaves people weak.” (Proverbs 14.34)
