Haven't you Heard, It's Rude to Stare?

I know what the words special needs means to most of you because I used to be you.  When I heard the words special needs I thought of a child who was different and couldn't do what most children could do.  I saw a child who didn't function the way that they should, and for lack of better words....to me, something was wrong with them.  Something was wrong that wasn't fixable.  My heart broke for their parents because this wasn't the plan that they had for their life.  Nobody raises their hand when they are about to make a baby and says, "ME...pick me...I want my child to have special needs."

When I came across a special needs child in life I would avert my eyes because the world had taught me that it's rude to stare.  I got so good at not staring at special needs people that I flat out didn't even see them anymore.  They were these people that were practically invisible to me.  I literally did not see them.

Then we had Dustin and God revealed this entire world to me that I didn't know existed.   It's like my eyes had been closed, and I didn't know it existed because I couldn't see it!  In the deepest parts of me I can't quite grasp the fact that I didn't see and I didn't understand something so huge....but I will be forever grateful that I do now!

Matthew 13: 15-17

"For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.  But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.  For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."

Now I see.  I see what special needs means.  It is differently abled but not in the way that the world thinks.  It's better!  It's a rich, deep, beautiful, hard gift.  And I see it that way because I see God all over it.  These children are not broken.  These children are not wrong.  These children are revealing to us something about who God is.  When I look at Dustin I see Gods character almost more than when I look at anyone else.  I see that God sees perfection in the things that humans see as broken.  That God sees beauty in things that the world sees as ugly.  The way that we define the big things in life like knowledge, joy, love, happiness, health, success....God defines very differently.  Do not look to what is seen!

I realize that just because I see this world doesn't mean that you will.  But I guess I am so thankful for this new world that my eyes have been open to that I genuinely want you to see it too!  I want you to see the special needs people that you pass.  I want you to look at them.  I want you to smile at them.  I want feeling sorry for them (or their parents) to not be your first thought anymore!  I want you to know that they are different then you but that doesn't mean that something's wrong with them.  

I just don't think God messed up!  I really think that the love and joy that reside in Dustin is so much more aligned with what God is after.  I constantly look at Dustin and think that He knows God in a way that I haven't even been able to scratch the surface of!  Dustin points me to God.  He points me to the cross.  He shows me how to celebrate even the dumbest of things.  God used this little guy to open my eyes and my heart.  In a stunning twist of events I see God so differently.  His love is so much deeper than I ever grasped.  His ways are so confusing but they're crazy better!  

"Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." Isaiah 64:8

You will be praised You will be praised
With angels and saints we sing worthy are You Lord

And it's why I sing
Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips
Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips
Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lips
Your praise will ever be on my lips, ever be on my lip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9AarM9w5lU