To celebrate our youngest daughter’s birthday this past week, the family joined her at the movie theater to watch the recently released movie, “A Wrinkle in Time.”
From visionary director Ava DuVernay, Disney based this epic production on Madeleine L’Engle’s acclaimed classic. The story takes the audience across a dimension of time and space, in a feast of flawless visual effects that left me dazzled, from beginning to end. But behind the dance of colors and masterful display of technology, the movie is filled with meaningful lessons. It is a story about discovering one’s strength by embracing our individuality and flaws, and overcoming fear and darkness by the power of love.
Meg Murry, the main character, is a problematic middle schooler who struggles with the typical insecurities that come with adolescence, heightened by her father’s sudden disappearance. As she joins her gifted brother, a school friend and three celestial guides on a journey through the universe in search of her father, Meg must face her weaknesses in order to harness the strength to defeat the darkness that is quickly enveloping the universe.
At a point in time, when the kids are getting ready to cross to a new dimension, the three guides cannot follow them. That’s when each of the guides bestows a special gift upon the children. Mrs. Whatsit, the flamboyant, comical guide played by Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon, gives Meg a gift that makes the audience chuckle.
“Meg, troubled, problematic Meg — to you, I give you your faults. You’re welcome,” Mrs. Whatsit says.
The irony of the statement lies behind the fact that we hardly consider our flaws a gift. Rather, our tendency is to reject them, hide them and strive to change what we don’t like about ourselves. The plastic surgery industry knows it too well. According to an article by the Business Insider, Americans spent a whopping $8 billion on plastic surgery in 2016. Now, there is certainly nothing wrong about desiring to look better or striving to overcome our flaws. But when it comes to our personality traits, the truth is — many of what we consider flaws are simply strengths that need to be harnessed for good.
I think about one personal trait that, for many years, haunted and sabotaged my relationships: my tongue.
God gifted me with a love for words. According to my mom, when we traveled to my grandparents’ house four hours away, 2-year-old me would start either singing or talking when we backed out of our driveway and would not be quiet for the entire journey. As a teenager, I was involved in debate club, poetry and theater. I was the president of my class from sixth grade through high school. If you needed someone to represent the students, my hand was up in the air. Count me in! I was always ready to present my case.
But my strength quickly became a shortcoming as an untamed tongue brought about hardship and broken relationships. Soon I started hating my “gift.”
It wasn’t until many years later, after becoming a Christian, that I understood that God did not want to change my personality traits. He says his children are “fearfully and wonderfully made” — flaws and all! He just wanted me to surrender my weaknesses and allow him to transform them. In my case, he added two key elements to the gift he had given me: wisdom and discernment. Words without wisdom and discernment can start wars, damage relationships and break spirits. But when they are infused with wisdom and discernment that come from God, they are like a healing balm and a directing compass for those around us. He also taught me the value of holding my tongue — a truly priceless gift!
Words... infused with wisdom and discernment that come from God, are like a healing balm and a directing compass for those around us. Click To Tweet
Indeed, our greatest flaws have the potential to display God’s work and glory to the world. They keep us humble. They keep us dependent upon him. And it is when we acknowledge them and allow God to harness them that they can become our greatest gift.
What is your Achilles heel? Has one of your personality traits become your greatest stumbling block? Could it be that God is waiting for you to surrender it so that he can turn it into your greatest gift?
This article was originally published in Patricia’s column for The Atlanta Journal Constitution on Saturday – April 28th, 2018.
