Contrasts

The view outside my windows is not beautiful.  It's fascinating in ways, it's unique from the perspective of where I've come from, but it's not lovely or particularly nice to look at.

But outside my kitchen window there's a tree with a crow's nest, a nest that surprised me recently in a place where I haven't seen one before.  And while I don't particularly like crows (they're aggressive and kind of mean), the placement of this nest in the middle of branches with new spring leaves is lovely.

It came to mind this morning when I read Paul's words:
"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness. " Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Chr1st's power may rest on me.  That is why, for Chr1st's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong."        -2 Cor. 12: 9-10

It's all about contrast.  If I'm weak then any strength seen through me is HIS strength.  If I fail on my own then victory that comes through Him will be all the more obvious.

Just as a nest of new life in a branch of fresh leaves stands out in the dirty gray backdrop outside my window, good things in and through my life stand out all the more because of my own dirty, gray, disappointing humanity.

For when I am weak, He is shown to be strong!