This week I traveled to the northern part of our state to get a tour of a facility that is a home to hundreds of people who have intellectual, developmental, and sometimes emotional disabilities.
In the days of old many people may have referred to these folks as “retarded” but now the words “intellectual disability” are used by those who want to be sensitive. I found it interesting to consider that even among this community of people, calling each other retarded was a scornful and hurtful act. This is so much the case that when you first walk into the entrance to their main administrative building you find a large piece of framed artwork with hundreds of signatures on it. Those who signed (residents and staff) did so because they were making a promise to never use that word again when referring to one another.
When I arrived I was expecting to meet with the director and sit down at a conference table and talk strategy for the upcoming motivational speech I will be giving to staff there. To my surprise I was greeted by the director and her staff and several residents from the facility. These residents had been told of my coming and asked if they wanted to be part of our meeting, and they gladly accepted. I was then blessed by sitting around a table with them and hearing about what it was like for them to live at this facility. Even though I could recognize that they were disabled, what came through was their warmth. I was so happy to see their excitement about being part of the meeting and their pride as I was given a tour of their rooms (by them) and where they worked. In the way the director spoke, I was able to deduce that some of the residents had been waiting with great anticipation for the time when they would get to show me their living space. I was also blessed as I met many staff and found all of them to be delightful and very invested in their work with the residents. Most of them spend their whole day caring for four or five of the residents. How blessed are those who have a heart for such work and do it well.
I share all this with you because as I left the facility I couldn’t help think about God’s provision for people……all people. I know that the movement today is for intellectually disabled people to receive services in the community and therefore integrate more with society but I left this center thanking God for how he had provided for the residents there. If you want, you can point out instances where God does not seem to have provided anything for a person (i.e. a homeless person, etc.) but I am still confident that in ways that may not be recognizable to us, He still provides for them.
I wonder if there are some who would have gone on that same tour with me who would have had a different take on what they saw. I wonder if they would have left saying, “Oh, how sad that people have to be disabled like that.” Or, “Oh, how sad that people have to live in a place like that.” Perhaps they would even say, “If God is so good, then why did He create people
that
way?”. Don’t get me wrong, I know that there is a certain amount of struggle (sometimes a lot) for the folks who live there, but it is important for us to see God provision and the blessing He provides for them (and us……).
I suppose what I will take away from my first visit is that God loves all the residents there whether or not they have the mental capacity to entertain His existence. I will also walk away with thanks and prayer for those who work there, that they may serve the residents well. My visit also has inspired me to go back and inspire them. Lastly, I must now consider what names, thoughts, or conclusions I must strive to avoid when I think of the people that surround me, whether or not I’ve signed my name to a piece of art, or not…
“But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.”
–Ephesians 5:3-4
Blessings,
Rob