Damaged

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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. 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.   II Corinthians 12:7-10

it’s not easy,
accepting that you are
permanently damaged,
a cripple,
handicapped,
less than normal;

less than a man;

that you’ll never run again,
never move freely again,
never be fast and agile again,
never be without pain,
never be without suffering;

never be without hardship;

yes, it’s not easy,
but you adjust,
you get by,
you take more pills,
you move slower,
you accept the inevitable,
you patiently wait for the
collapse,
all the time knowing,
it’s only flesh and blood,
only bone and nerve endings,
only a temporary illusion;

here today,
gone tomorrow;

you think about old girlfriends,
you think about memories
from the past,
you remember 55 yard touchdown runs
and inside the park homeruns,
you remember doing things
others can only dream about,
and you come to the realization
that all-in-all, it’s been a pretty
fair deal,
nothing to cry over,
nothing to be bitter about,
just another speed bump
along the way,
one more trial,
one more test,
one more obstacle
to overcome;

you remember the words
of the apostle Paul,
you remember that he too
toiled and suffered,
you remember that there are things
much bigger in this life,
much more important
than the bodies in which
we are housed;

that power is made perfect
in weakness;

thank you Jesus,
for Your magnificent
mercy and grace,
thank You for my life,
thank You for making me
a son of the living God,
thank You for the peace and joy
You have placed within my heart,
thank You for the suffering and sacrifice
endured by You for me,
thank You for being my Lord,
thank You for being my King;

thank You for being
my Everything.
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