Power to bless or possess

One way or another, and never both at the same time, we use power to bless or possess.

To bless or possess: to bless, others always appreciate. Such love seems to involve a personal cost to us, but truly everyone benefits. To possess, others never truly appreciate, and yet, whilst it seems to serve us personally, this too has an inevitable cost — on everyone.

To bless is a blessing to all.
To possess is a curse to all.

We need to be ever vigilant. This paradox is true: the more vulnerable we are, the more susceptible we are to using our power to abuse another person’s vulnerability.

Yet the paradox continues in the fact that a person who sees their lack, who is genuinely humble enough to always be living a life of contrition, because their lack is not lost on them, the person who faces their vulnerability and accepts it, is in the box seat to bless, because they’re mortally aware of their capacity to endeavour and strive to manipulate and to possess.

Becoming and being a safe person
is never something that we can bank as done.
Indeed, being a safe person
is principally about becoming.

The unfortunate reality, especially for the abused, is that the more vulnerable we are, the more capacity resides in us to abuse. Whether we wish to or not. This is why the authoritarian family structure operates as it does. The excrement flows downward. Power runs deep. As one person oppresses another, the oppressed person oppresses the next one down the line, and so on and so forth until the family pet gets it.

I think the following equation is true:

The higher our vulnerability +
the more power at our disposal =
the higher likelihood we abuse people through possession

When Power Blesses

We all have the power to be kind, compassionate, patient, gracious. Why is it that we think that these aren’t powerful? In every human being resides the power to bless. Such is the fact that we are made in the image of God; the God who blesses. And it is easier to bless than to curse, for in the blessing we too are blessed.

This is where the power that blesses works: it gives love and wherever love gives God multiplies.

So why is it that there is a paucity of power that blesses?

When Power Possesses

People ought never to be possessed. People never appreciate being possessed. And when I talk about possession in this way, I mean when people feel they are being controlled or owned or subjugated in some way.

No matter who it is, no matter what culture they are from, nobody appreciates being at the whim and the will of another person.

A key feature of the downfall of possessing others is 1) their resistance, and possibly worse, 2) their submission. It’s a perfectly normal and appropriate response for someone who is being abused to resist such an abuse. But what a scary reality for all concerned when the abuse runs unabated in silence and secrecy.

To bless or possess. Make your choice now. Take the right path. Commit to it. Don’t go back on it.

It comes down to the word vulnerability. Vulnerability is a crossroad. Vulnerability is the opportunity to go just as easily one way or another: to bless or possess. Be vulnerable but be honest. Be weak and know your weakness. And yet, see the beauty and wonder and majesty of serving others because you can, never needing to possess them as you bless them.

Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash