The true source of our strength...

Sometimes I get tired of weakness. It's normal, of course, to notice signs of failing strength as we grow older, but sometimes I catch myself feeling older than my years, as the effects of osteoarthritis catch up with me a little more each year. Often it's my spine and neck that trouble me, causing constant pain that lingers in the background and never quite goes away. At other times, it's the osteophytes in my feet that make life challenging, especially when trying to find winter footwear that allows me to walk without pain. 

This month, it's been my hands that are the source of frustration. I'm fortunate that I don't have pain in my hands, nor have I lost any mobility in my fingers; I'm thankful, for example, that I can use a computer keyboard, or can hold a pen and write without pain.  But I simply don't have any strength in my hands, and every few months something draws my attention to a further loss of power, especially in my thumbs. Often it's when washing the dishes - when my grip is not quite as firm as I'm used to and suddenly I drop a plate and watch it smash on the tiled floor.

It's happened six or seven times this month that I plugged in an electrical appliance - a vacuum cleaner, a toaster, an orange juicer or coffee machine - and then discovered afterwards that I simply wasn't strong enough to remove the plug from the socket. Once, I had to ask a neighbour to come into my house and unplug the toaster for me. There were two times that I didn't have the strength to push down the latch that allows me to open the window and one time that I wasn't able to open the door that leads to the back terrace where I hang up the laundry. Most frustrating of all, there were three or four times when I couldn't open a food package, such as the sealed pack of chicken breast or the ring pull on a can of cat food.

It's easy to feel "useless" at such times, when you realise that you can no longer do some of the normal things that ordinary people do. But then I'm reminded of a simple little verse in the New Testament (2 Cor 12: 9), where God tells us that His grace will always be sufficient for us. In fact, it's when we're weak that God's strength becomes more obvious in and through our lives. It doesn't matter whether the weakness we feel is physical, mental, emotional or spiritual; wherever and whenever we feel inadequate, our all-powerful God is more than adequate and is able to work even through weak and flawed vessels. That's why Paul wrote to the Philippians (Phil 4: 13) saying that we can do all things through Jesus who strengthens us. It's always important to stop for a moment before saying, "I can't do that," because just perhaps it's one of those situations where God wants to show His perfect strength in the context of our weakness.

In that letter to the Corinthians, Paul goes as far as to say he can rejoice in his weaknesses because they allow God's strength to be displayed. I'm not sure I could honestly say that I rejoice in my limitations, but I do know this: my times of feeling weak are precious, because they remind me that God is the true source of our strength.

Read on in the post below for reflections on the true source of our value.