Do you consider yourself strong or weak? What does it mean to you to show regard for the weak? (Serendipity Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, page 791).
Gerard
Manley Hopkins (1844–89).
Poems.
1918.
God’s
Grandeur
THE
WORLD is charged with the grandeur of God.
It
will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It
gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed.
Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations
have trod, have trod, have trod;
And
all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And
wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is
bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And
for all this, nature is never spent;
There
lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And
though the last lights off the black West went
Oh,
morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs—
Because
the Holy Ghost over the bent
World
broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
The
ultimate question is: where does true strength lie? We have learned
the hard way not to trust anyone who claims that they are or should
be in absolute control. Whether it's on the job or in the
nationstate, a walking red flag is anyone who claims they should have
and inherently deserve absolute control – instead of reserving that
role only for God himself. That is one reason why faith is so
freeing. We don't have to circle the wagons and constantly stress
over defending our limitless authority which does not and should not
exist in the first place.
It's
sad when a person in a leadership role thinks it's all about power
and authority rather than love and service – when their stance is
defensive and negative rather than positive; when the fixation is on
keeping others down and in line and not lifting them up with
encouragement. As obviously counterproductive as this fixation is
when viewed in terms of effective human relations, communication, and
productivity; it is a failure seen all too often. Those who should
know better fancy such behavior as stern strength and end up
assigning demigods and misanthropes rather than humanitarian servants
of God to positions of trust.
One
of the most useful insights ever conceived is that we are all weak
creatures when compared to the grandeur of God; and that God is and
ought to be in control with all humanity standing humbly before him.
We should fix this image in our minds and live by it assiduously even
if the God of love turns out to be a total fabrication.
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