It is one of Saint Paul's strongest statements. And again a paradox jewel, so typical of Christianity. There is a deep truth in this statement, and the reverse is also true. When I'm strong, then I'm weak. When everything is easy, arrogance is never far away, and with arrogance comes the fall. But there is also the potential of failure. In your deepest misery, in the face of reviling, persecution, fear, despair and failure, your strongest self also emerges. Or as Paul writes to the Corinthians: "My power is made perfect in weakness." Those very worst moments that you experience are precisely moments of new insight, growth and change that lead you to happiness. A sea change, into something rich and strange.
Image: St. Paul bitten by a viper, fresco in Canterbury Cathedral. This is a free license, as in the definition of Free Cultural Works.
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