Everyone Has a Story
by Amy Luxford (and John Fitts)
Amy Luxford, a friend and loyal Grace Drops reader, wrote and said that my Grace Drop this past week, “Silent Treatment,” brought to mind a recent story that happened to her. She found, as I have, that everyone has a story to tell, if they can just find someone to listen. She wrote:
Coincidentally, your message is very similar to my recent experience at the gym. Over the last week, I have noticed a young man coming in a wheelchair. I watch his courageous struggle to transition from his chair to mount the ergonomically designed equipment for non-handicapped individuals. I find myself watching, trying not to stare, in amazement. He humbles me and make my problems seem trivial.
As a Nurse and a Mother, my mind has created multiple scenarios of what placed him in the "chair." The well-groomed young man always seems happy, yet does not engage with the other gym-rats; or maybe the others chose not to engage with him? Like your message, people avoid contact because they don’t know what to say due to feelings of inadequacy and helplessness.
So yesterday, as his motorized chair passed quietly by my workout station, I said, “What’s your story?” He gently smiled and soon Zack and I exchanged a delightful conversation, not just about his degenerative neurological condition, but about life, my job, etc.
As I reflect on your message this morning, “they possess the need of all people and one that I can give, and that is my presence,” I realize, I also need the presence of people like Zack, to remind me of the greatest gifts that God continues to bless me with.
by Amy Luxford (and John Fitts)
Amy Luxford, a friend and loyal Grace Drops reader, wrote and said that my Grace Drop this past week, “Silent Treatment,” brought to mind a recent story that happened to her. She found, as I have, that everyone has a story to tell, if they can just find someone to listen. She wrote:
Coincidentally, your message is very similar to my recent experience at the gym. Over the last week, I have noticed a young man coming in a wheelchair. I watch his courageous struggle to transition from his chair to mount the ergonomically designed equipment for non-handicapped individuals. I find myself watching, trying not to stare, in amazement. He humbles me and make my problems seem trivial.
As a Nurse and a Mother, my mind has created multiple scenarios of what placed him in the "chair." The well-groomed young man always seems happy, yet does not engage with the other gym-rats; or maybe the others chose not to engage with him? Like your message, people avoid contact because they don’t know what to say due to feelings of inadequacy and helplessness.
So yesterday, as his motorized chair passed quietly by my workout station, I said, “What’s your story?” He gently smiled and soon Zack and I exchanged a delightful conversation, not just about his degenerative neurological condition, but about life, my job, etc.
As I reflect on your message this morning, “they possess the need of all people and one that I can give, and that is my presence,” I realize, I also need the presence of people like Zack, to remind me of the greatest gifts that God continues to bless me with.
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