Corona Devo 1607

Our middle child (apparently) learned to juggle this week.  

He was learning the routine for an upcoming show that his high school group will perform, when he (wisely) decided that one of the assigned moves was not a prudent one for him, because unfortunately, he has a thorn in his side.  And it's actually not just one thorn but two, and they aren't in his side, but in his knees.

At (only) age 15, he has dislocated both knees once...and he isn't looking to do it again.  

But what about the assigned steps that he was supposed to perform?   The ones that everyone else would be performing...but that he couldn't?

Sidenote: What do you and I do when we have a (physical/social/intellectual/etc.) limitation?  I know what I do: I often feel sorry for myself and self-conscious.  I sometimes think not-so-nice thoughts about those who are not having any issues.  I even sometimes think not-so-nice thoughts towards God: Why me?  What did I do to deserve this?  

(Sidenote to the sidenote: Our Lord doesn't work that way, so we are NOT experiencing hardship or limitations today because we have somehow fallen short of His expectations.)

Anyhoo...I sometimes pout when life serves me a detour.  How about you?

I can learn a lesson from my son though: he taught himself to juggle.

The song-theme has to do with a carnival, and (he must have decided that) if he couldn't perform the assigned steps...he could juggle.  They do that in carnivals, right? 

Juggling certainly would not have been my first thought, and I can't imagine how long it might take me to learn.

But our son (apparently) learned to juggle this week, and it didn't take him long.  I received this text from a parent that was at rehearsal that night:

I got to thinking that all of us have detours and thorns-in-our-sides (or knees) that cause us to re-route.  But what is our response and attitude about it?

It's high-time that we learned to juggle. 

The apostle Paul wrote about this in the Bible too.  I'm not sure if he was a juggler, but he did have a thorn in his side (flesh), and he asked God to take it away, multiple times.  (We can ask God.)  

But God did not take that thorn from Paul's flesh, and so Paul learned to juggle by accepting his weakness and leaning into God's strength.

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. (8) Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. (9) 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. (10) That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  ~2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Do we (can we) realize today that when we are weak, then we are (can become) strong in Christ?

That's a hard one to digest sometimes.  It's a hard one to learn.  I'm not sure I can do it in under 5 minutes.  But the Lord gives us these verses in the Bible today so that we might try.

Let's attempt to juggle today.  

Yes, we have road-blocks and flat-out-difficult situations.  

We can pout.  We can 'poor-me', or we can teach ourselves to juggle.  

We can look at the situation from a different point of view.  We can trust that God has an alternate route, and we can know that when we are weak it forces us to depend-on and submit-to Him, and then we are strong.

~~~

That wasn't the only time that Paul shared his faith about having faith in God when the day/season/situation wasn't picture perfect.  Paul chased hard after God, and he did not have an easy life because of it.  But he learned a secret: to be content.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. (12) I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. (13) I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.  ~Philippians 4:11-13

Are we chasing hard after God and His plans for us today?  Are we encountering hurdles and detours and anything but an "easy" life?  

Let's learn to juggle today, and to be content.

I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation... (13) I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.  ~Philippians 4:11-13

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com