There is always this question about empowerment. How do we become empowered human beings?
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I love Sam Wells’ surprising answer.
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We empower ourselves when we come to see ourselves as “a sinner who can be forgiven, rather than a victim who can protest.”
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What a surprise!
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Follow the surprise …. In your most treasured relationship, how well does it work to see yourself as a victim limited to protest? Versus the flip… in your most treasured relationship, how well does it work to see yourself as human being, warts and all, in need of forgiveness, in need of grace, in need of kindness?
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I would argue, when we place ourselves in the role of flawed humanity … blessed and broken… we place ourselves closer to our true selves and closer to God. We become, in a word, empowered. The edges soften and the heart grows.
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A stark choice maybe. A marriage of two individuals who each clutch tightly to playing the victim role has neither joy nor a future. A marriage of two individuals who correctly see themselves as flawed human beings has embedded deeply within the relationship the lasting seeds of joy and of a future.
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