Jeweled Breadcrumbs #3 : real strength unearthed in difficulty
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother…” (Matthew 10.34–35) What? Jesus, you did not come to bring us a happily ever after life? What have all those preachers been promising?????
Real Strength Unearthed In Difficulty
i used to see strength as stiff necked resistance
sturdy stable brawny insistence
til suffering tightened her savage grasp
sautéd me in failure my fortress she smashed
reduced to ashes with my cousin Job
my self righteous rage smugly overflows
headstrong persistence comes at a cost
real strength is squandered solid made soft
with firmness made flexible clamor seeks peace
real strength marries power to being weak
today i meet strength in cool fortitude
endurance suffusing my fortress imbued
with subtle assurance that all is as should be
unearthing real strength in difficulty
Jesus brings a sword to unmask the ways we run from reality and to excise the lies we tell ourselves and others. Let’s face it.
Jesus brings a sword to strip away our penchant for blaming or shaming others and ourselves rather than applaud our shared humanity. Let’s face it.
Jesus brings a sword to sever our hold on status quo conditions and free our hearts and minds to conceive something new. Let’s face it.
I do not know about you, but I hold my breath and recoil. I recoil because I feel vulnerable. I feel vulnerable because my father and mother, brother and daughter, colleagues and friends will hate and abandon me if I dare to moan with the pain of people whom they call other. But Jesus counsels, “‘Beware of … hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.“ (Luke 12.1a-2)
Jeweled Breadcrumb
Eventually i must squarely face myself and the apocalyptic movie set in which i am living. And if i have any hope to bank the overflowing reservoir of world pain, best i take James Baldwin’s words to head, heart and action. “Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” (1962 NYTimes essay)
Viktor Frankl counsels, “when we are no longer able to change our situation (read — that which we face) then we are challenged to change our selves.” (Source)
Thank you for reading these words, written by grace and the grit of a real human. Debra Asis
INVITATION — will you join me tracing the trail of Jeweled Breadcrumbs? Please add your stories of Jeweled Breadcrumbs in the comments. I will respond.
If you find this post meaningful….
please stay on the site for 30+ seconds & share with friends!
clap as many times as you like
leave your comments or questions! …. I would love to hear from you.
Subscribe on the Medium site to receive an email whenever I post.
Thank you.
The assignment that brings me to the writing of these words is to unapologetically tell the story of how God nudges, cajoles, drop kicks and masters me to be the real human being that I am … becoming … following God’s Jeweled Breadcrumbs. My daily writing challenge for 2025 is to share the Breadcrumbs with you.
You may also visit me at https://www.debraasis.org/
