“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”
― C.S. Lewis, On Stories: And Other Essays on Literature
SONG OF SOLOMON 1-3
5Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires. (3:5)
2 CORINTHIANS 12
Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But 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. 10That 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.
In my own life I have forced things I didn't need to force. I have run from things I really needed to face. I have lashed out when I needed to calmly assess. I have smoothed over when I needed to confront. I have hated when I needed to love. I have been stubborn when I needed to forgive.JOURNAL
Most all of these errors in behavior and judgment came out of misunderstood fear and anxiety. They actually came out of an immature childish response to adult problems. I learned at Onsite that these patterns of behavior are established when we are young and we will automatically resort to them. However, there are really good things about the childish part of us...the wonder of learning, the purity of love and the freedom to own thoughts and emotions.
When I break it down it becomes clearer...weakness, difficulty and struggle force me to be honest. In that honesty, I often have to come to accept my sin and my failures which leads me to seek God. Ultimately this is all God wants, he wants me to need and seek him as a young child needs and seeks his parents. That's why Jesus says and Paul reaffirms that "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
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