How good is your eyesight? Do you ever have to look at something a second time to get a clear picture of it? Another look may reveal things you didn’t see at first glance, and this is a principle that can be applied broadly. Is your first response to the things you encounter centered around yourself, how it affects you personally, how you benefit from or lose from it? This is a narrow field of vision. Can you look again without yourself at the center and see how it affects others, where there are effects and opportunities for the whole community, or for redemptive purpose?

Have you ever gone for a walk to clear your mind or to ponder a question? Do you recall how much of my instruction was given to my disciples while we were on the way, walking from one place to another? You may not have to walk to get to your destination, but have you ever found the practice to be beneficial? Have you found that motion facilitates spiritual insight more than sitting still? If it doesn’t, you are free to do whatever works for you, but it is beneficial for you to be sufficiently aware that you follow your own best practice.

Do you ever look back over the span of your life to evaluate your progress? Depending on your age you may have more behind you than ahead of you. Are you discouraged to see periods of stagnation with no apparent growth? Time wasted in pursuits that you thought were valuable but have reconsidered and abandoned? Did you expect growth to be linear and constant? That would be your plan but it isn’t mine. Despite what you see as dead ends are you amazed at the progress you have made? This wouldn’t happen if you were in charge. Trust me to perfect that which concerns you.

Paul said that when he was weak he was strong. Do you actually believe that? Is the contradiction lost on you? Do you see how this goes against every principle and assumption of your society of power and force and dominance hierarchies? This assertion doesn’t make sense under the accepted rules. In order for this to make sense you need a whole new set of rules, a view of reality different from the world around you. Recognizing that my Kingdom is not of this world is necessary to comprehend this view. How is the principle of weakness being strength manifesting in your life?