I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 (NLT)
One day, a sad little hawk went home after school and told his mom, “I don’t like school. I’m failing swimming, so they’ve doubled my classes.” The little hawk loved to fly, but because he was already so good at it, the school had cancelled his flying lessons so he could spend all his time on his weakness—swimming.
A little turtle also went home after school and admitted that he was failing a class—flying. In an effort to shore up his weaknesses, the school cancelled his swimming classes.
This story is silly, but people often do this sort of thing to themselves. They have natural gifts and abilities that could be developed, but they focus only on what they’re not good at. They think that if they could only rid themselves of their weaknesses they’d be happier. But it’s not true.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t work on your weaknesses, but spend most of your time strengthening what you’re already good at. Of course, it’s important to prioritize. For example, if you struggle to build relationships, you may want to make it a priority before you lose the people you love! But never compare your weaknesses with others’ strengths. You can always find someone who is more organized or more talented than you are, but no one has your unique set of gifts and abilities.
You don’t have to get rid of your weaknesses to be happy. You’re free to experience joy, no matter how imperfect you think you are!
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