Weakness

I like words, in all their simplicity and intricacy and ambiguity. Here is my 2024 in words, all of which carry significant meaning for this latest period of my life:

Weakness.
Recovery.
Hobble.
Turn.
Rest.
Repair.

I'm a doer, but this year has not been a year for "doing." This year has felt more like limping, dragging along a crippled foot. "Weakness" was the first word that came to mind to describe the year, and it very much fits. We are programmed by the world around us to think of weakness as bad. This year, a dear friend had to remind me that, in actuality, weakness is a good thing. A professor of mine once pointed out how St Paul wrote that, for the sake of the Gospel, he "became to the Jews, as a Jew; to those under the law, as under the law; to those without law, as one without law." But when writing about the weak, he says something different... 

"To the weak I became weak" (1 Cor 9:19-23). 

He didn't become "as" one who is weak. He "became weak." Be weak. It's OK. In fact, it's better than OK. It's good.