In a very real sense not one of us is qualified, but it seems that God continually chooses the most unqualified to do his work, to bear his glory. If we are qualified, we tend to think that we have done the job ourselves. If we are forced to accept our evident lack of qualification, then there's no danger that we will confuse God's work with our own, or God's glory with our own.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes that our lack of qualifications can lead us to rely more on divine guidance rather than our own abilities.
Madeleine L'Engle reflects on the idea that those who are unqualified may serve a greater purpose because they depend on a higher power for guidance and strength. When individuals believe they are fully qualified, they risk attributing their achievements to themselves rather than recognizing the influence of a divine presence in their lives. Ultimately, acknowledging our imperfections allows us to be vessels of God's work and glory.
In practice
During a church service, when discussing how God uses imperfect people for His purpose.
Truth is what is true, and it's not necessarily factual. Truth and fact are not the same thing. Truth does not contradict or deny facts, but it goes through and beyond facts. This is something that it is very difficult for some people to understand. Truth can be dangerous.
George MacDonald gives me renewed strength during times of trouble--times when I have seen people tempted to deny God--when he says, "The Son of God suffered unto death, not that men might not suffer, but that their sufferings might be like his.
If you don't recount your family history, it will be lost. Honor your own stories and tell them too. The tales may not seem very important, but they are what binds families and makes each of us who we are.
I never want to lose the story-loving child within me, or the adolescent, or the young woman, or the middle-aged one, because all together they help me to be fully alive on this journey, and show me that I must be willing to go where it takes me, even through the valley of the shadow.
The minute we begin to think we have all the answers, we forget the questions.
When we believe in the impossible, it becomes possible, and we can do all kinds of extraordinary things.
We can all pretend to be cynical and scheming, but when weβre faced with purity and innocence, the cynical mask drops off.
It is not an act of kindness to treat animals respectfully. It is an act of justice.
Yoga is a mirror to look at ourselves from within.
Empathy requires something extremely difficult: accepting the fact that we are not and never will be in the other person's shoes. There's no rational, universal course because individuals have different goals, different worldviews and different experiences.
The decline of violence is a fractal phenomenon. You can see it over millennia, over centuries, over decades and over years.
You must not lose confidence in God because you lost confidence in your pastor. If our confidence in God had to depend upon our confidence in any human person, we would be on shifting sand.
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