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;

it’s not easy, but you adjust,

you get by, you take more pills for the pain,

you learn to 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 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 for me,

thank You for being my Lord,

thank You for being my King;

thank You for being my Everything.

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