{"id":2276,"date":"2012-08-30T07:21:40","date_gmt":"2012-08-30T14:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/?p=2276"},"modified":"2012-08-30T07:21:40","modified_gmt":"2012-08-30T14:21:40","slug":"strength-weakness-and-the-strength-of-weakness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2012\/08\/30\/strength-weakness-and-the-strength-of-weakness\/","title":{"rendered":"Strength, Weakness, and the Strength of Weakness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I spent part of the spring and early summer doing a little physical therapy because lately my elbows and right shoulder have been bothering me when I climb.\u00a0 So once every two weeks I\u2019d make my way to see a man who I consider to be a genius when it comes to helping people heal and maximize the capacity of the their body.\u00a0 It turns out that his assistant attends the church I lead, and so we ended up having all kinds of brief discussions during my visits about school, literature, calling, vocation, the mountains, and more.<\/p>\n

My last visit led to a conversation about a mission trip she\u2019d made to Central America, and a discussion of how vast the needs are down there for physical therapy.\u00a0 You see, the stakes are so much higher there.\u00a0 They\u2019re not trying to sustain an esoteric hobby into their senior years like I am \u2013 they need PT so that they can do their jobs.\u00a0 And then she said something that, of all the thousands of conversations I\u2019ve had this summer, has stuck with me perhaps more than any other phrase.\u00a0 She said, \u201cthey\u2019re better at living with pain than we are\u201d.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 She walked away to see another patient as electrical impulses began stimulating my shoulder and elbow.\u00a0 I tried to check my e-mail while sitting there, but her comment had pierced me\u00a0 Better at living with pain.<\/p>\n

Later in the summer, I had a brief conversation with someone who was helping us move our piano from the living room to the bedroom because we were getting our floors refinished, and though I can\u2019t remember the exact words, he was questioning our western obsessions with retirement, security, and the pursuit of \u201cthe good life\u201d.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 His words also struck a chord.<\/p>\n

The very next day, I hopped on a float plane to go speak on an island for a week, and since the subject was the minor prophets, a single phrase in Zechariah 8:9 (\u201clet your hands be strong\u201d) served to bring the summer\u2019s two powerful phrases together and force the question:\u00a0 What exactly does it mean to be strong?\u00a0<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

Though the answer is surely worthy of more than a blog post, I\u2019d suggest that it\u2019s critical for us in the west to deconstruct our notions of strength, clearing the deck so that we can think more like Christ followers, and less like people insulated from the ravages of the fall that affect the vast majority in our world.\u00a0 Strength, in other words, isn\u2019t really about machismo \u2013 climbing into your sixties or seventies, running marathons, doing cross fit.\u00a0 Those aren\u2019t inconsequential or meaningless, and they\u2019re perhaps a form of strength (for another post sometime) but when Zechariah says \u201clet your hands be strong\u201d, he\u2019s speaking of something different.\u00a0 I know these because just a few paragraphs earlier in his writings, the Lord says that the mountains will become a plain, \u201cnot by might, nor by power, but by my spirit\u201d.<\/p>\n

In other words, there\u2019s a strength available to us in Christ that\u2019s independent of bench pressing, or machismo:<\/p>\n

Strong enough to confess, or forgive, to say the hard thing or hear it.<\/p>\n

Strong enough to serve others even when you\u2019re in the midst of your own deep valley.<\/p>\n

Strong enough to rejoice and get on with what needs to be done, even if you\u2019re in pain.<\/p>\n

Strong enough to be grateful, joyful, and persevere through trials with grace.<\/p>\n

Strong enough to open live with the intention of being a blessing to others.<\/p>\n

Strong enough, yes, even to lay down your life.<\/p>\n

These strengths are seen at the best when the strength of Christ is free to shine through us, and here\u2019s the kicker:\u00a0 Jesus tells us that His strength is made perfect right in the midst of our weakness, and this leaves me wondering if our obsessions towards a weakness free, and suffering free life, aren\u2019t in fact making us weak.<\/p>\n

Perhaps this explains why the hearts of joy, generosity, forgiveness, and servant hearts in Rwanda seem so to be much stronger than my own.\u00a0 Helmet Theilicke<\/a> said that one of the major problems in the western church is that we have an inadequate view of suffering.\u00a0 I\u2019m beginning to understand what he means, especially when our attempts to avoid all personal suffering create a sense of withdrawal from joy, service, and so much more as we tell ourselves, \u201cas soon as I<\/em> fix this, I\u2019ll get back to serving and rejoicing\u201d<\/em>.\u00a0 The trouble is that in this fallen world, tendonitis goes away, and then it\u2019s allergy season.\u00a0 After that there\u2019s a ski injury, 0r worse, a real disease, and we\u2019re back on the bench, out of God\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

No \u2013 we\u2019re in God\u2019s story today, or should be \u2013 right in the midst of our weaknesses.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 That\u2019s why Paul said that he\u2019d learned to glory in his weakness rather than obsess about fixing it.\u00a0 \u201cFor when I am weak, then I am strong\u201d is whathe said, and I think that many of us in the West will spend the rest of our lives trying to fully understand what he meant, and live into the reality of it.<\/p>\n

I welcome your thoughts\u2026<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent part of the spring and early summer doing a little physical therapy because lately my elbows and right shoulder have been bothering me when I climb.\u00a0 So once every two weeks I\u2019d make my way to see a man who I consider to be a genius when it comes to helping people heal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nStrength, Weakness, and the Strength of Weakness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I spent part of the spring and early summer doing a little physical therapy because lately my elbows and right shoulder have been bothering me when I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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