Last week in a visit to the kinesiologist, he attached a bead to the bottom of my foot with athletic tape. It is small. About 1/4 inch round. But it hurts. I cannot walk in my usual way without it digging into my foot. So, I have to adjust the way I walk. And that’s the point.

You see, he said, we do work in my appointments to correct the way my muscles work together, but then I go home and my body forgets what it learned. Especially when I am spending hours outside mowing, weeding, raking – working on my feet. So my body needs a reminder. Hence, a bead in my shoe.

Read: 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

I was reminded how often it seems like there is that one person at work, in the neighborhood, at school, in the family – who just irritates. Maybe they are there for a reason. Perhaps we forget what it means to love others well or we are tempted to live in pride or arrogance. So God put this irritant in our lives to keep us from depending on ourselves. It points us to him and our need to rely on him in our weakness.

Who or what is your irritant? What happens if you change your perspective and see it as a gift from God to keep you moving in the direction of love and selflessness? Can you learn to take pleasure in your weakness because that is when Christ’s power becomes the most obvious?