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This week’s blog hop
asks the questions:
How has your faith (or lack of) influenced the framework
within which you view/experience disability?
How has that “Faith Lens†(or lack of) affected your
perspective?
First – What is a
blog hop? A blog hop is a linky list that is SHARED ON MULTIPLE BLOGS. When
Second – these are
tough tough questions I have pondered for a long time.
I grew up in a
Catholic family, the oldest of five, educated in Catholic schools and taught that God was almighty and all forgiving. I am not saying that religion and faith are the same thing, but my early education taught me to accept a God I did not understand just because the Catholic Church said it was the truth. That was called faith.
I married a Jewish man,
quite different than either of our families ever imagined and in doing so learned that faith is really not about religion – rather our belief systems and how we work within our respective religious histories to forge our own way. Still, I was quite the lazy seeker and put off reconciling my own faith and spirituality for a long time.
I have three children,
the oldest Courtney is 20 and in college, Alex is 19 and will live with us for one more year before she goes to college, and Tommy who is 16 will be a senior in HS. The last 20 years of my life have been spent part pregnant, part working and always raising children, really quite rewarding but tiring. So the search for my faith took stayed on the back burner.
When Alex was born,
I questioned my faith – but this was very quickly replaced by the appreciation that a magical event had occurred. I began to embrace our new journey and in doing so developed a deep sense of believing that anything was possible.
This began my real
journey into the realization that there really is a power greater than myself, the Catholic nuns and priests, my husband and the numerous rabbis I was privileged to meet.
Time after time I felt
the power that came from somewhere guide me as I tried my hardest to raise three wonderful and responsible children, one with a disability. Very simply, I believe Alex is part of the big picture that is molding our family. She brings us the comfort of love, and the knowledge that anything is possible. She has changed us all – and hopefully helping us to become the people we were meant to be.
Three years ago when
Courtney was preparing to fill out her college applications she wrote the following essay. The deal was that I was not allowed to read it unless she was admitted to her first choice college as an early decision candidate. And she was….
It is easier to rip
a newspaper along the grains. There, the paper is uniform and the tear is clear. I had envisioned my life to be along the grain. I wanted to be the same as everyone else. My school, my clothes, and my music resembled everyone else’s in my grade. My family, however, didn’t. In 1st grade I realized my sister was different. This meant that I was School was mine. I entered the decorated classroom and forgot my family at But I really wasn’t. My sister called for me from across crowded hallways Eventually, I stopped trying to live my life in the control seat. I I don’t remember exactly when I realized that I didn’t have to be second The newspaper was ripped, and there was no going back. I took another look Every weekend, I watch Alex as she jumps out of the car before I turn off And that was the defining moment. If a simple extra chromosome can change a teenage girl, and make her think so deeply about her place in the world, there must be a power greater than any of us, we just have to believe, and hold the faith. I am grateful, thankful and blessed and these are three adjectives I would never have used on June 19, 1993 and now use almost every day. Hmmm, did I really answer the blog hop questions or not? Check out these other awesome blogs: |
