A presenter at a leadership conference I recently attended spoke about the importance of affirming communication. To illustrate, he showed a viral video of a young woman who’s telling her boyfriend she has a splitting headache. “It hurts so badly I can’t think straight,” she says to her beau, turning toward him on the couch. That’s when you see it, there’s a large nail stuck in the middle of her forehead!
Boyfriend says, “Maybe you feel this way because there’s a nail in your head.” “It’s not the nail,” says the frustrated girlfriend. “Listen to me! I have a pounding headache. It’s not the nail!”
The humorous video highlighted the importance of being on the same conversational wavelength: she wanted to have an emotional conversation–“I feel,” but he was thinking practically–“I’ll fix this.”
The point was about truly hearing each other, but my mind pivoted in another direction. Sitting there with several other educational administrators, I thought, “This job is like a nail in my forehead. I keep telling myself and others it’s not but it is.”
Later, the same presenter confessed that he left the principalship and took early retirement, telling his wife, “It’s either me or this job.” He pulled the nail out of his own forehead and became a corporate trainer to a bunch of “hammer-heads” like me.
The Apostle Paul called his nail a “thorn in the flesh.” Three times, He asked God to pull it out, but the Lord said this:
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9a (NIV)
In response, Paul leaned into his thorn:
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9b
Kind reader, is there a proverbial nail in your forehead? If so, don’t deny it, but dedicate it to the glory of God. If you have no nail, please pray for someone who does.
Thank you for reading. 🙏❤️ Prayers and love.
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8 (NIV)
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