But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
Let me tell you about the motorcycle ride I took this weekend.
I went approximately zero feet.
Camp Eagle Rock is set up so several groups can be there at the same time. Our CMA group gathers at Gray Fox Lodge, where we have cabins, a big conference area, room for the kids to play while the adults do Bible study, a kitchen for snacks and—most importantly—a coffee pot.
The wonderful staff feeds us three very good meals every day and provides activities around the camp. Since everything is spread out, we use ATVs and dirt bikes to shuffle people back and forth. I was in the final group to go axe throwing. When we finished, we had three adults, one kiddo, two ATVs and Randy's Honda TransAlp.
Easy solution: I'll ride the TransAlp. After all, I ride a motorcycle. I've had my motorcycle license for years. This wasn't exactly my first time on two wheels. I climbed onto the bike, centered myself on the seat and leaned over to pick up the kickstand.
Except...I kept leaning. The kickstand never came up. And neither did I. I just flopped over onto my left side, effectively wedging myself between the TransAlp, an ATV and the ground.
I never started the motorcycle, I never put it in gear, I never moved an inch, I never even got off the kickstand.
The problem wasn't that I didn't know how to ride a motorcycle. The problem was that this wasn't my motorcycle. The TransAlp is taller than what I normally ride. Its weight felt different. Its balance was different. Where my feet landed was different.
I approached it thinking, I know how to do this. And technically, I did. But knowing how to ride didn't change the weight of what I was sitting on.
I think we do that in life, too. We look at something in front of us and think: I've done this before. I've handled hard things, I know how this works - I've got this. Until suddenly we don't.
Something shifts.
The weight is different, our footing isn't where we expected it to be. And before we've even gotten started, we find ourselves thinking, How in the world did I end up down here?
Maybe there's a reason God never asked us to prove that we can handle everything.
Paul asked God to remove something he was struggling with, but God's answer was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
God didn't tell Paul to try harder, He reminded Paul where his strength came from.
There's nothing wrong with experience. There's nothing wrong with confidence. And there's certainly nothing wrong with knowing how to ride your own motorcycle.
But sometimes we encounter something that reminds us that our own strength has limits.
And maybe that's not failure - maybe it's an invitation. An invitation to stop saying, “I've got this,” and start saying, “God, I've got You.”
Because there will be things in life that are taller than we're used to.
Heavier than we expected, different from anything we've handled before, and occasionally, we may discover that before we've even gotten off the kickstand.
When that happens, we don't have to pretend we're strong enough. His grace is sufficient. His strength doesn't depend on ours, and sometimes the first step forward is simply admitting:
This is heavier than I thought.
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
Let me tell you about the motorcycle ride I took this weekend.
I went approximately zero feet.
Camp Eagle Rock is set up so several groups can be there at the same time. Our CMA group gathers at Gray Fox Lodge, where we have cabins, a big conference area, room for the kids to play while the adults do Bible study, a kitchen for snacks and—most importantly—a coffee pot.
The wonderful staff feeds us three very good meals every day and provides activities around the camp. Since everything is spread out, we use ATVs and dirt bikes to shuffle people back and forth. I was in the final group to go axe throwing. When we finished, we had three adults, one kiddo, two ATVs and Randy's Honda TransAlp.
Easy solution: I'll ride the TransAlp. After all, I ride a motorcycle. I've had my motorcycle license for years. This wasn't exactly my first time on two wheels. I climbed onto the bike, centered myself on the seat and leaned over to pick up the kickstand.
Except...I kept leaning. The kickstand never came up. And neither did I. I just flopped over onto my left side, effectively wedging myself between the TransAlp, an ATV and the ground.
I never started the motorcycle, I never put it in gear, I never moved an inch, I never even got off the kickstand.
The problem wasn't that I didn't know how to ride a motorcycle. The problem was that this wasn't my motorcycle. The TransAlp is taller than what I normally ride. Its weight felt different. Its balance was different. Where my feet landed was different.
I approached it thinking, I know how to do this. And technically, I did. But knowing how to ride didn't change the weight of what I was sitting on.
I think we do that in life, too. We look at something in front of us and think: I've done this before. I've handled hard things, I know how this works - I've got this. Until suddenly we don't.
Something shifts.
The weight is different, our footing isn't where we expected it to be. And before we've even gotten started, we find ourselves thinking, How in the world did I end up down here?
Maybe there's a reason God never asked us to prove that we can handle everything.
Paul asked God to remove something he was struggling with, but God's answer was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
God didn't tell Paul to try harder, He reminded Paul where his strength came from.
There's nothing wrong with experience. There's nothing wrong with confidence. And there's certainly nothing wrong with knowing how to ride your own motorcycle.
But sometimes we encounter something that reminds us that our own strength has limits.
And maybe that's not failure - maybe it's an invitation. An invitation to stop saying, “I've got this,” and start saying, “God, I've got You.”
Because there will be things in life that are taller than we're used to.
Heavier than we expected, different from anything we've handled before, and occasionally, we may discover that before we've even gotten off the kickstand.
When that happens, we don't have to pretend we're strong enough. His grace is sufficient. His strength doesn't depend on ours, and sometimes the first step forward is simply admitting:
This is heavier than I thought.
#dailybreadbykitty
Daily Inspiration from the Bible
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to share your thoughts, but please also be respectful.