“Power made perfect in weakness” is not a
pleasant sort of life even if Paul is content to boast of his long list of calamities.
Indeed it would seem that the thorn in the flesh is the least of his worries.
But then the lesson to be learned is that the ability to endure all things does
not come from a position of strength as if all one had to do was double down on
spiritual steroids or stoically channel your inner Norwegian - if you happen to be Lutheran. No. It
is grace that allows weakness to be strength. That means one can be content and
still lament of the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” (aka - channeling
the inner Dane) It means that even though you pray for what you want (three or
more times if you like) there comes a day when you accept what is and there is
some measure of contentment in acceptance. But that is not the end of the
story. The grace that is sufficient points us to the “things that are not to be
told” so that the future balm for present woes might be applied to the wounds
made by thorns in the flesh. In that way “my grace is sufficient for you” transcends
whatever keeps us from being too elated with the promise of whatever waits for
us in the paradise “God knows”.
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