I received this reminder last night: "You don't have to be strong all the time, you know." 

 That has been, and still is, my strongest temptation, and I suspect that it is for many people- the desire to be strong, not to have failures, and certainly not to be perceived by others as weak or silly or foolish. 

Well, guess what? Sometimes we are weak. We all have failures, memories that never fade completely, and moments where we are weak, physically or emotionally or both. As the chorus of a Rich Mullins song says, 

 We are frail
We are fearfully and wonderfully made
Forged in the fires of human passion
Choking on the fumes of selfish rage
And with these our hells and our heavens
So few inches apart
We must be awfully small
And not as strong as we think we are 

  

At those moments all I want to do is get through the situation, selfishly focusing on myself and forgetting that there may be a deeper lesson to be learned- 

  And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

 One final thought: Christ, our Savior and Lord, the One who sustains the whole universe, came to earth as a helpless baby. Perhaps we should follow the example of Jesus and allow ourselves the freedom of not always being strong. After all, we're not ultimately in control anyway, and we'll never be fooling God.

  His grace is sufficient. 

Merry Christmas!