Ain't Never Been Nobody
My 8th grade English teacher
taught me that "ain't never been nobody" was a double negative, and a
double negative actually makes the statement a positive. Thus, "ain't
never been nobody" equals somebody. To be somebody I had to be twice as
negative as usual. I was on to something
here!
I tried that logic in Math class
but zero x zero = nothing, zero + zero = nothing, zero - zero = nothing, and so
on. My Math teacher took the opportunity to exercise her ability to belittle me
into feeling like a zero. She would tower over me running through her catalogue
of insults amplified by the tone of voice that dripped with contempt. I hated
the feeling of droplets of contempt falling on my head. I wished I could turn
into nothing with a "pop" and disappear from Math class forever.
Today's passage is one of my
favorites because it fits me: "not many wise men," I wasn't sure I
would graduate, "not many mighty," I was fodder for the predatory
jerks in school, "not many noble," no royal blood in my veins. God
chose the ones that most people think would be foolish - to baffle those that
know it all. He chose the weak, even people with Parkinson's, to completely mess
with the minds of the orators with great charisma. He chose the skid row bums,
cripples, untrained, unskilled, even the dregs of society - "the things
which are not," the nobodies - to accomplish his will.
Put God in the equation and the
answer is really something! Zero + God = success in God's eyes. I ain't never
been nobody, yet God has been able to use me! God makes all the difference in
the equation.
"For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to
confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things
which are despised, hath God chosen, yea,
and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh
should glory in his presence." 1Co
1:26 -29.
© copyright Kevin T Boekhoff
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