"Likes" from "Lacks"

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But 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.

(II Corinthians 12:7-9)

An architect who helped design a beautiful city in an Arizona desert said that the architecture of an area is determined by the lack of available materials. Life is somewhat like that, isn't it? If we were given the privilege of choosing the materials we would use in fashioning a body, no doubt we would choose nothing but the best. We would choose good health, beauty, ability, dexterity, and strength. Who would choose blindness over sight or deafness over hearing? Who would choose to be lame while others could walk and run?

Yet, we must build our lives from the "lacks" and not from the "likes." We must, if we are to enjoy life, learn how best to employ the materials that are available.

The most unhappy people are those who complain about what they do not have. People who become bitter and resentful because others seem to have more are seldom life's cherished companions.

If an architect can make a city beautiful from the "lacks," surely God enables us to do the same with our lives. We must be alert to the possibilities and blessings that are available.

Jesus took a hillside and made it a sacred place. He took a grave and made it a doorway into the Father's house. He made "likes" out of "lacks." We can, too.
Rev. Charlotte Austin
McCary's Chapel
United Methodist Church