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TURNING WEAKNESSES INTO WINGS
3-1-09
In his thought-provoking book "Path of a Zen
Rabbi," Alan Lew tells how he had always seen his need for attention as
a terrible defect. Then one day he realized that he would not have been
able to find success with some of his most important projects (like a
place for the homeless) if he had not learned how to get people's
attention. He said, "It was this thing I most hated about myself that
was enabling me to do good in the world."
I had similar experience. When I ran for public office I kept feeling
that all my efforts to call attention to myself surely stemmed from
pride or an inflated feeling of self-importance. Yet there is no way to
win without clearly getting your best credentials before the people in
the most positive way possible.
I came to see that the very fact that I was having such thoughts was my
best protection from ego. An ego-driven, control maniac never stops to
think on his motivations. He is like a blind dog in a meat house, madly
striving for power and control. Your awareness of the dangers of ego and
your sensitivity to the need for finding your holiest motivations is
indeed your most desired consciousness.
Miraculously I discovered that our greatest spiritual powers are just
below the surface of our perceived weaknesses. If you fear you have an
inflated ego the truth is that you are an aware person.
Another way of saying this truth is that the solution to any problem
lies within the problem itself. You will not dig for strength until you
are overwhelmed by weakness. It is only when you are overwhelmed by a
weakness that you become totally receptive to any spiritual idea,
teaching, or technique that empowers you.
As I look back at the earliest days of my commitment to run for public
office I remember one thing that became a bedrock of strength to me and
that bedrock was making a firm decision to turn my life over to God. If
you have this kind of honest commitment, you know you can trust God to
give you the confidence and strength you need for any task you
undertake.
There is a difference in feeling you are God's instrument and thinking
you are God's pet. God has no pets. Once I was walking behind a visibly
intoxicated man in Nashville. He finally collapsed on the sidewalk and
urinated all over himself. As I stood there feeling loathing for the
man, the powerful truth came to me, "God loves this man just as much as
He loves you. Now stop a minute and send him some love energy."
Instead of standing there full of revulsion I recalled the verse, "God
is no respecter of persons." In case you think you are one of God's
pets, I hate to be the one to tell you that the most vile person on the
planet if just as important to God as you. Jesus said if 99 were safely
in His fold (in all their worthiness) and one was lost in the craggy
rocks of the mountain, He would leave the 99 and go get the one lost.
And even if the lost one was lying on the sidewalk urinating on himself,
Jesus would pick him up and take him back to the fold. That's why I
can't help but love Him … His love for all of us is so strong.
Like Jacob, I have wrestled all night long with one of my perceived
weaknesses but when this happens to us, we can take heart by knowing
that God can turn that weakness into a strength. Passed out on the
sidewalk or safely in the fold at the moment, He is equally available.
You may raise someone from the dead, but you will never do a greater
miracle than turning a perceived weakness into spiritual wings. That's
what the spiritual journey is all about.
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