BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS »

Friday, August 28, 2009

The Imperfect Present

The problem with presents are that you never know exactly what is inside. I honestly must admit that I have gotten some really awesome wrapped gifts. Only to look inside and find something less than what I actually wanted. I am sure we have all been on the receiving end of this predicament. It's really disappointing.......and certainly NOT what we expected. Now this is a major bummer for a gift........it is heartache when it's your child.

As I write this, I am thinking of the many children that unlike you and I......are not perfect in mind and body. Somewhere in this imperfect world, they were impacted. Then by no fault of there own, they became dirty and crumpled...........the damaged package. However, instead of being loved and cherished as our Savior would want, they are dejected, ignored, and pitied.

I know that much of this behavior from other stems from fear. It is amazing how much fear we adults can have. I know that people are afraid of simply the word Autism. They don't understand what it is or how it impacts the individual who has it. Our children present strange behavior for a variety of reasons.........much of which boils down to misdirected neurological patterns. Still.......they are just people. My son is not Autism........it is something he has. Beyond the label he is loving, mischievous, energetic, and most of all joyful. If you want to learn this.......you have to have patience and actually get to know him. Isn't this true of all people? You have to get beyond the packaging.

As I think about differences, I am drawn to our Lord. Now, here was the person who could love the unlovable. He didn't just love those we don't like....(tax collectors). He reached out and touched those we avoid and despise. It wasn't like people in his time were flocking to the lepers and disabled. Yet, our Lord touched them......He healed them.

If I have learned anything, it is push past my fear and look for God. He's always there in the discarded and ugly. In the eyes of the homeless man, the smile of the little girl with Cerebral Palsy, the laugh of the boy with Autism........He is there. Don't turn away.......Look, He is there!

It is my prayer that we can learn to love like this. Not to feel pity, but to see the creation that is inside each and every human being. We are all gift that He has given. Some of us just have dirty or crumpled paper.......still it is in the unwrapping that the gift is actually revealed.

0 comments: