Probably the most important lesson I learned in Haiti was that it’s ok to be weak. Even better than ok, it’s something I should boast about and wholeheartedly embrace.
I’m rarely willing to accept help (probably my biggest character flaw). Even when I need help, I can never sit back and let someone just do it for me, I have to pitch in. There’s a variety of reasons why this is true. Sometimes it’s just easier to just do it myself. Sometimes I don’t trust others to get it right. Other times I feel like I’m infringing on someone else’s time. Sometimes it’s really because I see my own need as much less than someone else’s. But most often it’s because I view needing someone’s help as my being weak.
In Haiti, however, more often than not, I was powerless. Time after time, a small hurdle would pop up and there would be literally nothing I could do to remove it on my own. To say the least, for a control freak like me, it was an extremely frustrating time. I couldn’t even pitch in and help. But I learned early in the week that there was someone whom I could rely on and who could knock down every hurtle, obstacle or barrier in the path to this adoption — and it wasn’t me. I just got to watch.
For the first time ever, really and truly, I learned the meaning of this verse in II Corinthians 12:9, “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.”
So today, I am boasting from my own little mountaintop in the blogosphere – “I AM WEAK!!” and I am glad to do it! Jesus, your power is sooooo much better than mine!
Natalie Ames 