the other day i was listening to one of my friends share some of their story with a group of people – four of our friends were speaking on the topic of serving God [and people] with our Time, our Talents [skills, giftings] and our Treasures [money, things] with each person dealing with a specific one of them.
as i listened to Lara [who is, among other things, a mom, a wife, a daughter, a nurse, a church member, a Simple Way board member] speak about Time, something she said jumped out at me and i was hit once again with the idea that sometimes our biggest strength can also become our biggest weakness [or if not the biggest then at least a source of weakness]
i think for me, something like competitiveness can be a good thing because it drives me to succeed and to push and to go further than maybe others think i can and so on, and to attempt things a lot of people might not, but when it is bad it is really bad and it can be a source of choosing goals over relationship, or getting into a bad mood [and generally helping other people feel bad] when i am losing in a game [Stop nodding, anyonewhohaseverplayedabunchofgamesagainstme!] or having some choice but not to kind words to say to the opposition on the hockey field.
it becomes tricky because unlike something that is just seen as a bad thing in my life, the answer is not eliminating it because it is a strength as well. and so i have to learn how to work on and emphasise the strong points while looking at diminishing or at the very least being aware of the weak points so i can hopefully let them appear less.
but that was just a taster… i have asked some of my friends and people who i respect if they will take some time to look at their own lives and choose a strength that they have which they have also witnessed the weakness side of and a number of them graciously agreed and so i will be running this series over the next few days.
i invite you to take a look at some of the strengths you have and see if you can identify the weakness that might lurk behind them. and feel free to share in the comments section. i am hoping that awareness of this will help us to be more focused on strengthening the strengths and weakening the weaknesses.
what is your Strength Weakness?
read the story of Steve Graybill as he speaks about a THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE
read the story of Tshego Motiang and her experience with EMPATHY
read the story of my good mate Bruce Collins and his experience with PEOPLE…
read the story of Lara and her take on SENSITIVITY…
read the story of Robert Murray as he speaks about the WOO FACTOR
read the story of Shae Leigh Bloem and her experience with being HARDCORE
read the story of Dalene Reyburn and her experience with AMBITION…
read the story of Sharné Finn Osborne and her experience with INCLUSIVITY
read the story of Tim Tucker as he looks at being a MULTI-TASKER
read the story of Jane Lee as she talks a little bit about CONTEXT
It’s very true, and somethng you can observe in almost anyone. For me, my strength is I love logic, truth, research, information—which is great when that is needed, and I am generaly pretty well informed. but I can also be an obnoxious know-it-all, missing the forest of big truth for the trees of little truth. thanks for putting this in perspective.
i think trying to control anything (in this case, competitiveness) is always difficult. I think something needs to be ADDED instead. more love, humility, fruit of the spirit in general. control generally doesn’t work, for me at least, ON ITS OWN. needs a more cunning strategy, mr watson! sometimes a thing isn’t a good thing or a bad thing, it’s just a thing.
yeah i think possibly the word ‘control’ was not the most helpful – i do think a key here is being aware of when your strength can be a weakness and working on those situations or circumstances and adding what needs to be added [or taking away what needs to be taken away] so as to strengthen the strength and weaken the weakness.
[…] have a good friend, Bruce Collins, who recently guest blogged for me for my Strength Weakness series on the topic of how PEOPLE for him can be both a strength and a […]
A strength of mine is getting to the core, or understanding the essence, of a situation, or problem…or person. The downside of this is sometimes rushing to conclusions about a situation, or problem…or person. Or in other words, being impatient.
Great subject to reflect on Brett. And I like your take on it about not wanting to dampen the strength, but to enhance it by working on the downside.
thankx Cuzz – if you want to extend that a little to a full post i am accepting submissions for another round of them soon… doesn’t have to be crazy long – one to three paragraphs…
[…] [To head back to the start of this series and hear a whole lot more Strength Weakness testimonies, c… […]
[…] [To head back to the start of this series and hear a whole lot more Strength Weakness testimonies, c… […]
[…] [To head back to the start of this series and hear a whole lot more Strength Weakness testimonies, c… […]
[…] My Strength Weakness: Sometimes something that is a strength for us can also work as a weakness – some of my friends share their stories on this […]