What I Learned from a Clumsy Deer

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a fishing trip with my Dad and my brothers to celebrate my dad’s sixtieth birthday. We went backcountry camping and fly-fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This was one of the more remote things we’ve ever done. We hiked miles into the wilderness with our supplies, planning to live on the fish we caught. After our first day of fishing, we felt like we might be in trouble. We didn’t catch enough fish. Dipping into our emergency rations on day one wasn’t exactly the plan. The next day, we decided to split up.

Normally, we fish in pairs, each taking one side of the river. But on this day, we were fishing alone. It was nice because no one knew how many times my fishing line got hung up in the trees. At one point, while untangling myself from a particularly angry shore-bush, I heard a loud THUD come from across the creek. I thought a tree had fallen. Thankful that it missed me, I looked across the water and saw something shocking.

A little deer, a fawn, spots and all, stood up on the bank. It had fallen, perhaps thirty feet from the cliff above! The deer shakily stood up and shook its body to collect itself. After staring at me for 10 seconds, he tried to scale the boulders above. I watched the deer fall three times before he gained some footing and bolted off.

I’ve never seen a deer fall before. They’ve always been pristine, perfect creatures. I’ve seen a lot of deer in my lifetime, in my backyard, bounding through the woods, and barely making it across the street. I’ve seen them jump over fences they shouldn’t be able to clear, turn on a dime, and weave through trees. I’ve never seen them make a mistake, but apparently they do.

It’s easy for me to make myself a deer. I want to hide my faults, my weakness, and my humanity. I want everyone to always see the good parts of me that look nice. I want people to think I’m great.

We do it to others, too. We want our leaders to be better than us, and so we pick people that we think are holier, smarter, and better. We elevate them. At some point our admiration takes a turn and we start thinking they’re perfect.

We even do this with people we read about in Scripture. I think it’s easy to think some of the Biblical characters are perfect. We only remember their strengths and best moments. We can easily take someone like Paul and lift him up as who we should aspire to be. But Paul himself points us somewhere else.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul was dealing with an interesting situation. Some of the Corinthian Christians were beginning to follow other apostles who were outshining Paul. While these guys were very spiritual, they were pointing people to themselves and not to Jesus. Paul’s response is interesting. He doesn’t respond with a pride that says he is better. Instead he talks about his weakness. Paul points out his struggles and his humanity. Then he says this in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Instead of pointing out his super-human achievements, Paul points out his humanity!

All of us, at some point, in some form or fashion, will be looked up to. Even if it’s just your kids looking to you for direction or your employees looking to you as their boss, we will all feel the weight of someone else’s gaze at some point in our life. The instant that begins to happen, there is one simple temptation: fake it.

We feel like we need be the perfection that people expect in us. They’re expecting us to be better than them, and we can’t reveal the fact that in reality we struggle with sin and selfishness in the same way that they do, so…we just fake it. We begin to construct a reality that isn’t real – all because we want to live up to expectations that we can’t. We cannot be their perfection. We can’t be good enough parents for our kids. We can’t be good enough Bible Study leaders for everyone in our church. You can’t be a good enough teacher. You can’t be a good enough mom. You can’t be a good enough dad. I can’t be a good enough pastor.

All of us are struggling. We will fail. We are failing. We’re not good enough. We can’t string together enough sinless moments to even make a day. We’re weak. We’re sinful. We are human.

So yes, you will never be a good enough parent, teacher, boss, pastor, family, mom, dad, but the beautiful truth is that Christ is enough. While we cannot be enough, Christ is enough for us!

Jesus says to us, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

I caught a deer in a rare moment of weakness. It caused me to think about what’s real.

Pray this with me to today:

God, give me the courage to embrace my weakness and humanity. As people see what is real in me, may they see your strength. AMEN.