Partner With Your Weakness(es)

I heard this statement first from a very inspiring man (A.F.), and it seemed to be like a word I have been waiting for. Can you relate to the statement “work on your weaknesses!”? For me, there have been several areas that are weaknesses, and working on them has been quite difficult.

For instance, though I love teaching, my first assignment in the Children’s church was to teach 3 year olds. At that age, all these children want are songs and games, which was my weakness. Not only did I not know how to sing, I did not know the songs the children liked. After struggling with this weakness for a long while, the only way I could move forward was to have an assistant who knew the songs the children liked, and could sing them.

We see various cases where we need to partner with our weaknesses. Why? Because we cannot do it all by ourselves. God has blessed each and every one of us with qualities that make us unique and different. Someone else can effortlessly do something that is your weakness. For instance, while growing up in a home of 6 girls, we had the ones that could cook a meal in 30 minutes, the ones that could clean the house in 5 minutes, the ones who loved going to market (and get gain from the change), and the ones who loved to wash the car. The only way we could effectively get the house in order was to focus on our strengths individually, and collectively the jobs got done. All my mother wanted to know at the end of the day was if there was food in the house, if the house was clean and if her car was okay for a trip. The "who" was inconsequential (unless it was not done properly).

Of course, in choosing a partner, the “Partner with your weakness” cannot be more relevant. People are first of all drawn to each other by their similarities. But always look for those areas where the both of you are different, and see if you complement each other in weaknesses.  Differences are not always bad. It really matters on the long run, and it helps to give you and your children a broader perspective to life.

That being said, let me go and meet with my team where we have all decided to partner with our weaknesses in order to collectively meet our objectives for the year. One cannot underestimate the value of teamwork.

Have a blessed week ahead!

Related Bible Verses

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: if one falls down, his friend can help him up [Ecclesiastes 4:9 NIV]

As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other [1 Corinthians 12: 20-25 NIV].