Strong Enough?
My sister and her family like to watch 'strongest man' competitions, where muscly guys (I don't know whether there's a women's equivalent) lift and pull outrageously heavy loads! This, though, is only one measure of human strength. A relatively tiny person, when going through a significant trial in life, may be said to be immensely strong.
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Whilst strength doesn't only relate to the physical, the condition of our bodies can have a huge impact upon our mental health and emotional stability. Should an illness hit the body, the mind may suffer too. When I swim regularly and eat well, my whole being benefits. It also works the other way around: when hurt emotionally, or under significant pressure, my gut plays up and my shoulders tend to become knotty.
Although many of us aren't aiming for enormous physical strength, we all value a degree of it, despite mostly taking for granted the ability to lift bags of groceries, push open a fairly heavy door, or stay on our feet when met with a gust of wind. Mental or emotional strength is also identified in various ways, and not always celebrated. Strength of personality, for example, is perhaps more visible in an extrovert and may be perceived as a threat, even when not used against others. Quiet consistency, on the other hand, might go unnoticed. Experience of mental health challenges is sometimes perceived as weakness, despite the greater self-awareness and empathy that it may foster.
What, I wonder, is deemed 'strong enough' but not too strong? Perhaps Rudyard Kipling's poem, 'If', offers something of an answer. As a teenager not much exposed to the big wide world of culture, education, and varied perspectives, I would often pass a poster of it. I recall wondering for a while why it shouldn't equally apply to a woman(!) before concluding that it would simply be impossible for anyone to live up to. Elements of it depend on others' opinions. A person who has no regard at all for those is aloof or even arrogant, but to build on them in a shaky foundation indeed.
Quite a few years later, a close friend told me that she marvelled that a strong woman like me would want to be friends with her. It surprised me at the time, and it has stuck with me. In my estimation, she has now proved to be one of the strongest people I can think of. There lies the definition of strength that I think I most aspire to: resilience. It doesn't come cheap.
Yesterday was Good Friday, and I had the privilege of leading our church in remembering with gratitude the death of Jesus, the Christ—which we do precisely because we know he is no longer dead. Here is One who surpasses all of Kipling's criteria. He was sure of his true identity and genuine greatness, secure enough to have that denied and mocked by pretty much everyone else, and utterly committed to giving his very self so that we can be eternally secure in him (see Philippians chapter 2 in the Bible).
If I am thought strong—even perhaps too strong—the reality is that in some ways I'm more feeble than others might ever imagine. It's through handing this to Jesus, though, that true strength wells up. Opinions blow on the breeze, and human favour waxes and wanes, but the God who made me sees through the lot and says that who I am and can be is not based upon my strength, but on the Saviour who alone is strong enough.⬦
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