Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Unexpected Blessings

Sometimes God blesses us in unexpected ways by giving us things we've never even thought to ask for, much less want. Such is true of special needs.

Usually people like to feel special--set apart in a way that society honors, like being especially intelligent or especially good at athletics. But when it comes to being different in a way that society disses, like being especially unintelligent or especially bad at athletics or especially needy, then we have to work hard to drum up any kind of enthusiasm.

Why should that be? After all:
  • God created mankind in the garden and proclaimed him very good!  He didn't say that some people were very good and some were not.  
  • In Psalm 139:14 we read that man is fearfully and wonderfully made. Scripture doesn't say that some people are wonderfully made and some are not. 
  • In Exodus God acknowledges that some people are mute or deaf or blind. And He takes credit/blame for that. In fact, in the gospel of John, Jesus said that the man born blind from birth was made just that way so that the works of God would be made manifest in him.
We who read our Bibles know these verses yet sometimes revert to the world's thinking when it comes to people with "special needs." Looking out for them (Philippians 2:4) is one thing, but pitying them disrespects God's handiwork and misses what He is doing through them.

We need to get over the notion that a child born with any kind of anomaly is undesirable. We say "I don't care if it's a boy or girl, so long as it's healthy." Shouldn't we rather say, "I don't care if it's a boy or girl so long as God gets glory from my child's life?" Healthy or not, we are each to live our lives in such a way that others will see our good works and glorify the Father who is in heaven.

There is much we don't understand as we look through the glass darkly.  But one thing is sure: we are all fearfully and wonderfully made, made in His image, and waiting for the Lord's return. At that time we will understand and appreciate all His blessings, even the unexpected ones.

"Beloved, now are we the children of God,
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be,
but we know that, when he shall appear,
we shall be like him;
for we shall see him as he is."
~I John 3:2

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