361. Ability to Cope
Previously I’ve written about Harold Wilke who was born with no hands. And in that writing he asked an audience to raise their hands if they had a disability. Many people did. And then Harold said, “The rest of you? Just wait…”
And that is pretty much true. Most of my life I would have raised my hand, because as a child I had multiple ear infections and in that time the solution was to lance them, resulting in scar tissue and loss of hearing.
Now I have added arthritis, and numerous other nuisances that theoretically go with aging. However, what I’ve learned about handicapping conditions is that you work with it. I have a daily (as in every day) exercise routine that so far has kept me from having to have knee replacements. I also work at keeping a steady body weight or even losing a few pounds to make the load less for the knees to have to carry.
The hearing is a little more problematic. I’m going to Lake Junaluska in July for Soul Feast and hoping that I’ll be able to hear in some of the situations. But I’ve never been to Lake Junaluska, so my reasoning goes that if I can’t hear, I can still enjoy being there—enjoy the conference grounds, enjoy the people I’m going with, and they’re bound to have a bookstore!
Sometimes at my church the hearing assist doesn’t work, and that means that I don’t hear the sermon. So when that happens I figure something else to do with that time while I’m sitting there. I have 15-20 minutes to be in prayer, or to write something, or to listen for God’s voice.
My disabilities are nothing compared to what others deal with (if I want to go the comparative route). It’s really the way I cope with my disabilities that makes a difference.
