November 5, 2011

Episodes of Transcendence

Nobody loves everything about their job. Every job has its annoyances, and my job is no exception. For one thing, there's all that darned paperwork. (Does anyone really like paperwork?) But there are benefits with this job - what I think of as 'Episodes of Transcendence'. When working with people who live with disabilities, it never fails that there will be a moment every now and then when you are guaranteed to experience pure joy.



Many examples come to mind. Like the expression on a man's face when I told him he could get a special motorized wheelchair that would take the painful pressure off his spine completely free of cost. The giddy look of excitement on a bride's face as she walked down the hall of the church toward her fiance's side to be wed by our Chaplain at one of our events. The sheer happiness in the voice of one of our Guardianship clients when he excitedly told me over and over that my son liked him simply because he'd walked over to him and said hi and shook his hand. The radiant smile of the mother of an adult son with traumatic brain injury as she expressed gratitude for the improvement in her son's spirits since they had discovered Bridge.

These moments of transcendence happen when people feel that someone cares, when they feel special, when they feel they belong. These are feelings we all desire, whether we are currently living with a disability or not. We all want to feel valued in the eyes of others. When you give someone who can't walk a wheelchair, when you give a lonely person a community that cares about them, when you look after someone who is alone in the world without family to take care of them - you are simply saying "You matter." 

Anytime a volunteer serves in whatever way they are able, or a church opens its doors in welcome, or a donor gives financial support, they are all saying to people who live with disabilities -  "You belong."  And that's a very powerful thing. I can tell you from firsthand experience - the joyful response is infectious, and its one bug I don't mind being infected with at all. So I'll keep doing the annoying paperwork, because the bennies are just too good to give up. I'm staying tuned for the next episode.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 
       - I Corinthians 12:27