No matter the size of the challenge... ............. Parables 749

April 16, 2002

The north side of Maui is a surfer’s paradise. The waves are high, wide and magnificent. However, at certain times of the year the surf reaches thirty to forty feet, and those waves roll in so rapidly that they earn the title “killer waves.” For them, surfers stay on the beach.

The south side of this Hawaiian island is much tamer, so I tried body surfing. My first attempts were exciting but suddenly a wall of water slammed the wind out of me and filled my bathing suit with wet sand. The wave was only thirty to forty inches high, but my husband later told me it had a force of several hundred pounds. No wonder I felt as if I had been attacked by a killer wave.

Like surfing, life’s waves carry a certain degree of relativity. Some people handle challenges easily (like experts on big waves) but in a similar situation the next person (me, a wimpy swimmer) falls apart. Sometimes, even minor things can put some people into a spin.

For instance, these past few weeks I’ve been staring at a painting on my easel. I started it late last year as a gift for my daughter, supposedly for Christmas. Then I got to a point where I could not figure out what to do next. Typical of me, I procrastinated.

Christmas came and went, as did her February birthday. The canvas mocked me. Finally I decided I would work on it but not without praying. “God,” I asked, “What do I do next?”

The Lord uses life to teach me that me being full of confidence is not His way of conquering big challenges. If I think I am unable, I procrastinate or bemoan my helplessness, but if I am sure I am able, I miss the delight of having His guidance and help.

The Apostle Paul had to learn the same lesson (so I’m in good company). He had a problem that he called “a thorn in the flesh.” He does not tell us what it was, so everyone can identify with him for we all have our share of thorns. Paul first pleaded with God to take it away, which is what most of us do. “Calm those killer waves, Lord. Give me a peaceful ocean, or at least the size of waves I can handle.” But God did not answer that request. Instead He said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Paul learned through this and other tough lessons that weakness is not necessarily a bad thing. It enabled him to rely on the Lord’s help and even to say, “I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul’s lesson is becoming my lesson, particularly in the major challenges (like killer waves) but also for the smaller challenges lest they slam me onto the beach too.

I’ve learned that God longs to make His power known through His people. As long as I think I can do things myself, I miss out on the goodness and grace He wishes to lavish on me. I may grumble and not enjoy feeling weak and helpless, but I am glad that there is a way out — and He is that way.

After praying about that painting, an old and forgotten technique popped into my mind and I knew this was my next step. I picked up my brushes and conquered my forty-inch wave.