Diapers To Donuts: Listening To God's Children

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« The Sled | Main | 25 Ways To Be An Amazing Parent To Your Children »

January 31, 2009

Listening To God's Children

Some days going to church is like a blessing. Other days, your knees hurt when you kneel and you spend the entire time thinking about Battlestar Galactica when you should be thinking about God.

On this particular Sunday, the experience was somewhere in-between. I came to church wanting to be inspired but our priest had decided to compare Jesus to Civil War general George B. McClelland and I had a hard time coming along for the ride.

With my son Sean on my left and Declan on my right, we did our best to follow along. Mass ran a bit long (comparing the World's Savior to a Civil War General is no easy task), ending just after noon. My stomach growling, I closed my Hymnal with visions of last night's Chicken Soup and Irish breakfast tea dancing in my head. I had paid my dues and was ready for an earthly reward of gastric proportions!

But then something entirely unexpected happened.

Well, two things.

Out of nowhere, a little boy walked up and informed us that he had an amazing talent for drawing Star Wars figures. He then started to take us through his notebook full of drawings, taking great pains to go through each page in detail.

At first, all I could think about was the Chicken soup. I gave several furtive glances towards the door, plotting some sort of escape. I wondered to myself where his parents were and tried to pick them out from the throng of people surrounding us, many of whom were heading towards the exit.

Then something struck me about this little boy.

The drawings themselves were exactly what you would expect from a seven year old. Sometimes recognizable, and other times not so much. What was different, however, was the excitement with which he went through each of his drawings. As far as this boy was concerned, there was nothing in all the world more interesting than these drawings. They clearly meant a great deal to him.

All this little boy wanted was an audience, someone to listen. It didn't really matter what we said just so long as we were there to nod and to smile, to serve as witnesses to his creations.

After about ten minutes of "Star Wars Figures On Parade", a man suddenly came up to me, introduced himself by name, and proceeded to talk for another ten minutes straight while Sean and Declan patiently listened to the young boy's Star Wars narrative.

The man's voice patterns reminded me so clearly of my Autistic sister Christina that I felt like I was talking to her. I guessed, but could not tell for sure, that he might be handicapped. He had so much he wanted to tell me - where he was from, why he chose this Church, what his parents did for a living, how he coped with his condition and his anxiety about life in general.

After ten minutes, he paused suddenly and just looked at me. In his eyes I could see a question: he wanted to know if I was willing to listen more.

Instead of offering some sort of excuse ("You know, we really need to get going..."), I told him how much I liked his stories. His eyes grew wide, clearly surprised that I was willing to listen more.

And so, emboldened, he launched into another series of stories.

There we were, surrounded on all sides by people who wanted nothing more from us than our attention.

"Notice Me. Hear Me!" they each said in their own unique way. "I Matter."

The Church lights suddenly flickered off, and I realized that almost 40 minutes had passed. The Priest beckoned to us from the Church entrance. It really was time to go.

Sean, Declan and I said farewell to the young boy, agreeing that most certainly no one in all the world could draw Star Wars pictures like THAT.

We said a hearty "Goodbye!" to the handicapped man. "Can't wait till next time," I said. "I'll bet you'll have even more stories!"

When we got home, I struggled to explain to my wife what had happened. I started to tell her about the boy who could draw the world's best Star Wars pictures and the man who I barely knew but yet whose life story I could now repeat verbatim.

It all came out sounding so strange. What the heck were we doing, exactly?

"Listening, that's all," I said in exasperation. Why couldn't I explain it, after all? "Just listening."

Listening because while sometimes God speaks in loud, booming pronouncements, other times his voice is as soft as it is mysterious.

Listening because if we don't, we may never hear what the quiet or the small or the challenged ones have to say.

But more than anything, listening because in so doing, we give meaning and significance to the life of another.

By listening we tell them: "Yes, you do matter."

So, the next time one of God's children has something to tell you, I suggest that you resist the temptation to focus on your own small world and that you open your heart to their's. For it is by bearing witness to another's humanity that we find our own.

Posted at 11:43 AM | Permalink

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Comments

That was a very beautiful and inspiring post!

Posted by: Nicole | February 01, 2009 at 01:41 AM

Good luck!

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My experience was similar to yours with the Secret Pal thing. I think I sent 4 packages too. Ab Fab is looking good. Are you carrying up the yarns? Wigwam is the absolute worst for weaving in. I suggest just knitting it with the next row.

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So, speaking of the New Year, I want to make sure that you all know about our upcoming Purljama 2010. On January 15, from 7-12 PM, we'll be relaxing, playing with yarn, talking with friends and generally having more fun that non-knitting muggles would believe!This post above came about by me being a bit inspired and I came to the computer and started typing, within about 20 minutes I'd written the post lol Bring a dish to share - and don't worry, you don't have to share yarn - and get ready to do some serious post-holiday unwinding.

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Breeze bring my blessing, go take along my greetings to the moon, to send you a trace of wind, a ray of gifts on your children, Fengyue Wubian, Heart of Gold, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

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Now, I cannot say that I think you are any of you looking well at present.'I hope you will think better of their looks to-morrow; for I assure you Mr. Wingfield told me, that he did not believe he had ever sent us off, altogether, in such good case.

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Diapers To Donuts

4 Kids, A Wife, A Dog and A Whole Lotta Mayhem