• Creativity in Cold Lentils
• Recovering Hope
• Truth Is A Two-Way Street
• Our chance to stand in solidarity
• Human Rights: a common meeting place?
• The Heart of God
• Dare to Dream
• Learning to Listen
• Finding meaning in the experience
• Towards An Understanding of Home
• Silence
• Peregrinasaun Haksolok Hamutuk
• Peace
• The Big Show
• Weakness and Strength
• United in Peace
• The Ring
• ACUSA
• People as seeds of hope and change
• Being Grateful
• In the midst of 250,000 people
• UN World Habitat Day
• Praying The Rosary
• I Want To Make A Difference
• How Fragile we are
• The Challenge of email
• Being Socially Responsible
• Thirsting for Knowledge
• Archived Thoughts of the Week

Saint Paul had a weakness that he called “a thorn in my flesh”. It isn’t clear what it was, but he prayed long and hard for it to be taken away. The response he received was “my power is made perfect in weakness”.

I have always struggled to understand how this can be true. When we are aware of our weaknesses, we usually work to eliminate or downplay them, and if this isn’t possible, we feel shame. However, recently I’ve discovered some ways in which weakness can be a source of strength.

One of my friends is particularly pig-headed and closed to persuasion, which often brings him into conflict with those around him. However, when he decides to help someone or offer friendship to the ostracised, nothing on earth can stop him and he becomes a powerful force for good.

Marketeers also use this technique of finding the positive in the negative. When the energy drink “Mother” was launched a couple of years ago, an extensive advertising campaign came to nothing in the face of consumers’ hatred of the drink’s taste. Recently, a reformulated version has gone on sale, and the new advertising mocks the scientists who created such a disgusting concoction.

If you have a weakness that you can’t get rid of, is there a way you can use it as a strength?

• Peter Blake
• Electronic Services Librarian, McAuley at Banyo Campus