August 17: Weakness, Power Reaches Perfection, Embracing the Thorn

In Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, he talks about having been given "a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me and keep me from getting proud."  Paul begs God on three separate occasions to take this thorn away.  Three times, God answers, "My grace is enough for you, for in weakness power reaches perfection."

We all have thorns to deal with.  My previous blog post spoke of the envy I  have of my sister- and brother-in-law's house.  That was a huge thorn for me last night.  I found myself at one point during the birthday party just sitting on a flight of stairs by myself, sulking.  It wasn't an attractive sight.  I have a lot of thorns like that, thorns that bother me on a daily basis.

I frequently feel slighted by people.  For instance, my sister asked me last week to pick up an annual discount card from a local school's football team.  This card provides all kinds of savings on groceries and gas and movie tickets.  It's a great deal.  I went out and bought her a card for ten dollars.  I went to her house last night and delivered her card.  She took it and thanked me.  That was it.  She didn't offer to reimburse me the cost.  Nothing.  In fact, she complained a little about a change in one of the offers on the card.  That's a thorn.

I am an adjunct instructor at the university.  Currently, the contract for the full-time professors is under negotiation.  The full-timers want a pay raise and better health insurance, among other things.  Very few of them have a concept of what an adjunct makes per semester, without benefits or raises.  I've been making the same small wage per class since about 2001.  That's a thorn.

My car needs about $800 in repairs, plus four new tires.  That's a thorn.

My house needs a coat of paint, according to the insurance company I just switched to.  Thorn.

I have a cold.  I still have to create my syllabus for the fall semester.  I have to clean my house this afternoon.  Thorn, thorn, thorn.  Every day, there are big and small thorns in all our lives.

It's not the thorns that are important, however.  That's what God tells Paul.  It's how we deal with the thorns.  By surrendering to the thorns, accepting them, we gain the power of faith.  God gives us grace to deal with the imperfections of this world.  And through God's grace, we achieve power over the thorns.

Saint Marty needs a lot of grace this morning.  He's going grocery shopping at Wal-Mart.

So many thorns, not enough roses

July 30: Disappointment, Jordyn Wieber, "Carol" Dip

So I watched the Olympics last night.  Of course, there were a lot of events that were covered, but the one that really struck me was the women's gymnastics competition.  I think the term "women's" is a little misleading, because most of the athletes competing are these tiny little teenage girls.  That being said, I was really moved by the story of American gymnast Jordyn Wieber.

Here's a girl who's been working her whole life for this Olympic moment.  She's the reigning world all-around gymnastics champion.  She posts the third best score of the night, but because of a rule that only allows the top two scorers from each country to compete in the women's all-around finals, Jordyn Wieber will not be able to fulfill her dream of trying to win an all-around Olympic gold medal.

That wasn't the part that really move me.  The part that moved me was Jordyn Wieber's disappointment, which was immediately evident and immediately heartbreaking.  She alternated between tears and stiff-upper-lip.  As the father of a girl who dances competitively, I just about died watching Wieber's post-competition interview.  I've sat in an auditorium and witnessed my daughter receive a medal I knew she wasn't happy with.  I don't care if my daughter takes bronze, silver, gold, or platinum in competition.  I care about the disappointment she feels in herself.  That's what I saw last night with Jordyn Wieber, and I could barely stand it.

This post isn't about the United States being screwed out of a chance for a gold medal.  Or an unfair Olympic rule.  Or unfair Olympic judging.  It's about a little girl who isn't even going to get a chance to make her dream come true.  That's really depressing to me.

It is a Monday, and, therefore, it's time for a Carol dip.  I've been thinking long and hard about the question I was going to ask this morning.  I think it's going to have to do with disappointment:

Will I be disappointed with the employment contract that's currently under negotiation at the university?

And the answer from the ever-wise Charles Dickens is:

...The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever...

Wow.  That answer depresses me even more this morning.  Misery.  That doesn't sound very appealing.

Excuse Saint Marty now.  He needs to go take some Prozac.

I just want to give her a hug