"What is your biggest weakness?" I hear this question frequently in my job search. Knowing that the list is too big to dump on someone I've just met (much less, someone I want to impress), I usually make a joke about my addiction to coke products and move on to talk about how my weaknesses are really strengths. I care too much. I'm too giving. And a bunch of other crap to highlight my great achievements. However, I recently came across a job application with a much better answer. The applicant was asked what their biggest weakness was. And they answered truthfully. Other people.
Other people and their faults can often trip us up in our spiritual life. We focus on how others could improve their life without seeing where we might need correction. We make silent declarations of how the world would be better if only so-and-so were a more loving, more dedicated, more-like-us Christian.
"It seems to me that you need to be a little more big-hearted about the imperfections of other people." This quote hit me in the gut while reading a book called "Let Go," a collection of letters written during the 17th century by Fenelon, the Archbishop of Cambrai. The more perfected we are through Christ the more we see our own failings. The more we see our own failings the more grace-filled we are toward others. And the more we can approach our life honestly (even in job interviews) to see how God loves to use our true weaknesses to demonstrate His power. May Christ have mercy on us so that we can have mercy on others.
Other people and their faults can often trip us up in our spiritual life. We focus on how others could improve their life without seeing where we might need correction. We make silent declarations of how the world would be better if only so-and-so were a more loving, more dedicated, more-like-us Christian.
"It seems to me that you need to be a little more big-hearted about the imperfections of other people." This quote hit me in the gut while reading a book called "Let Go," a collection of letters written during the 17th century by Fenelon, the Archbishop of Cambrai. The more perfected we are through Christ the more we see our own failings. The more we see our own failings the more grace-filled we are toward others. And the more we can approach our life honestly (even in job interviews) to see how God loves to use our true weaknesses to demonstrate His power. May Christ have mercy on us so that we can have mercy on others.
