What is Right and what is Wrong?

Yesterday, as I sat in worship at the Eastside Friends church in Bellevue Washington, I gazed at the forest just outside the meeting room window and I pondered: -Which of these magnificent and beautiful trees in front of me is right and which one is wrong?

I then glanced down at the carpet beneath my feet and I again found myself pondering:

-Which one of these unique and intricate tiny strands in the carpet pile before me is right and which one of these strands is wrong?

I found myself looking up at the ceiling and noticed the chains holding up the lights that illuminated our space and I pondered: -which one of these individual links is right and which one is wrong?

Glancing around at the people surrounding me in contemplation, meditation, and prayer I saw their heads filled with hair and I couldn't help but ponder: Which of the individual strands of hair on their heads is right and which one is wrong?

These questions are ridiculous and the answers always eminently clear and the same: They each one and all are a creation of life which is all around us, and none of them is right or wrong they are just there as they are truly meant to be.

SO, I FOUND MYSELF PONDERING ONCE MORE: Why then do we so frequently look at people and ask the question are they right or are they wrong, always expecting this question to be real, valid and signficant.

This becomes even more poignant when we look at people who happen to have disabilities.

In the most recent publication of the Journal of Religion, Disability & Health there is an article by Hans Reinders entitled: Is There Meaning in Disability? Or Is It the Wrong Question? In this article the insightful truth is shared that through history, and too often even now those with disabilities have been seen as a cursed people or a blessed people. In brief the imagery of the church has been that God has punished people by inflicting them with disabilities, or oppositely God has created folks with disabilities as "innocents," angels of light, or as gifts of blessings for the world. When in all truth and reality God has created and sustained folks with disabilities just as God has created and sustained all of us just as we are.

We are so off the mark if we look at people around us and ask are they right or are they wrong? We unabashadly recognize the truth which shines forth that we are ALL God's creatures. It is and always has been the fact that you, me, those with disabilities and everyone together are as we are meant to be right here and right now. May we live, act, speak, and breathe in the knowledge that this is so.