The Gift of Strength

Last week I took my family to see Encanto at the movie theatre. Even with a toddler crawling on and off my lap throughout, the story and songs managed to wedge themselves into my brain, sneaking in and taking root around the carols and Christmas to-do lists that typically occupy space this time of year. I was particularly drawn to Luisa, the super-strong older sister whose song, Surface Pressure, could be an anthem for modern women everywhere, especially at Christmas time.  Here are just a few of the lyrics that resonated with me.

I don’t ask how hard the work is
Got a rough, indestructible surface
Diamonds and platinum, I find ’em, I flatten ’em
I take what I’m handed, I break what’s demanded, but
Under the surface
I feel berserk as a tightrope walker in a three-ring circus…
Under the surface
I’m pretty sure I’m worthless if I can’t be of service

A flaw or a crack
The straw in the stack
That breaks the camel’s back
What breaks the camel’s back?

It’s pressure like a drip, drip, drip, that’ll never stop, whoa
Pressure that’ll tip, tip, tip ’til you just go pop, whoa-uh-uh
Give it to your sister, your sister’s older
Give her all the heavy things we can’t shoulder
Who am I if I can’t run with the ball?

Although I love the Christmas season, I wrestle every year with feelings of inadequacy. It’s enough of a struggle to keep my family fed, clean, and healthy on a regular basis, without the additional expectations of holiday traditions and to-do lists. I simply cannot do it all.

Thankfully, I don’t have to.

Is 40:29-31 “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

What Is the Gift of Strength?

Can you imagine unwrapping a gift of strength from the Lord? In one picture I see a beautiful gift box, simple and unassuming. Nestled inside on a bed of tissue paper is a can the size of a soda, labeled “Strength” in bold letters. I pop the tab and down the beverage (which tastes like peppermint!) in one gulp. My biceps bulge triumphantly as I am filled with the physical prowess to accomplish everything on my to-do list from addressing the last of the Christmas cards to completing the shopping without losing my cool with the crowds or the kids or the time crunch.

In another imagining, I see a tightrope walker, strong and graceful, a single bead of sweat threatening to spill from her forehead as she takes another precarious step towards the center of the rope. She is weary, but being halfway across, she can’t very well turn back. She must keep moving forward. For her, the gift of strength comes as a butterfly. It flutters past her, an image of hope that encourages her to take that next step.

Strength can look like many different things – endurance, power, agility, maturity. Our heart, soul, mind, and body have the capacity to do so much, to think and feel and enact change in the world we are a part of yet in the face of our ambitions we nearly always find ourselves weak.

The Strength of the Lord

The strength of the Lord is not a magical, peppermint-flavored beverage designed to supernaturally speed me through minor tensions with ease.  What God gives is a firm foundation, sustaining us through every moment of life. It is not the ability to do everything perfectly on our own, but an invitation to rest in His power, which shines through our weakness like the lights on a Christmas tree. As we open our hands to let go of the striving to do and be more than we are, His strength fills our emptiness with abundantly more than we were lacking to begin with.

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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Another song came to mind as I was working through this post and pondering this gift of strength. “You are my strength when I am weak. You are the treasure that I seek. You are my all in all.” You are My All in All – Bing video

May you rest in the strength of the Lord this Christmas season!