Power Made Perfect In Weakness

She is many years my senior yet she is my friend. I have walked beside her as the light in her eyes dimmed and her vision faded. Her world has become closed in by silence. Her brilliant mind can no longer retain the information given her and she asks again and again the same questions. Her body has become frail and like a child she needs help with simple tasks. In all of her frailty she has taught me the truth of power made perfect in weakness.

When her strength first began to fail she shared with me her prayer. "I have prayed and told the Lord if He could use my weakness to bless my family that I am willing to be weak." Truly this prayer of surrender is a prayer of love. "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends." John 15:13 I have seen a reflection of the love of God in her sacrifice for her family and those who know her. Grace and been poured out and many have been blessed.

Recently her son received a call in the night,she had fallen. I watched as he gently lifted her in his arms.   He placed her lovingly in her bed then sat beside her, his arm wrapped around her frail shoulders. I couldn't help but ask myself, "Who lifted whom?"

When the Bible describes love it begins this way, " Love is patient and kind." 1 Corinthians 13. In an attempt to define patience I found,"Bearing or enduring pain, difficulty, provocation, or annoyance with calmness." When I read this definition it made me smile because it reminded me of becoming a mother and taking care of my newborn children. God used my children to teach me how to love. Now I also see it in reverse. I see a mother who is willing to be used by God to teach her children how to love.

In attempting to understand kindness I found that kindness means to do good to others in thought,word of deed. If I am kind then my goal is to be an instrument of God in the lives of others. This is the loving kindness I have seen in my friend. By surrendering her weakness to the grace of God she has taught us one by one to learn in turn to treat her with loving kindness as well.

Lord Jesus, thank you for putting people in my life that light the path that leads to you. Thank you for giving me an example of what power made perfect in weakness looks like.