A Twist of Fate
I'll never forget the day we finished my mother's wheelchair ramp. My mother
had a history of congestive heart failure, diabetic neuropathy, and was becoming
weaker every day. For means of transportation, it had now become necessary for
her to begin using a wheelchair.
When the ramp that we built was finally finished, being the adventurous fool
that I was, I had to make certain that it would indeed "work". So, I took my
mother's wheelchair and tried to wheel myself up the ramp.
You know, of course, I never ended up making it the whole way up. I got a forth
of the way up and started flying backwards, proceeded to do a backwards wheelie,
and ended up landing on my side; wheelchair and all. The next thing I knew, I
was on my way to the emergency room with whiplash. That's the funny part of my
mother's ramp.
The sad part is, she never even got to use it. She went into congestive heart
failure that night and died a few days later. I attended her funeral with my
neck brace on, the end result of all my shenanigans. That was back in '96.
Through the years, I always hated that ramp and often have been tempted to tear
it down. But, someone always talked me out of it. "No, you don't really want to
do that. Leave it there. It will increase your property value." So, much as I
hated it, I have always left it there.
Now, as things turned out, it seems as if there may be a possibility that I just
might be the one who will end up using that ramp! Seems as if I just might have
helped build it for myself.
Sometimes, life seems to deal us a cruel twist of fate. I can either look at
that ramp and whine, and cry, and say, "Why me, Lord? Or, I can smile a little
and think, "Hey, at least I know you can’t go up it by yourself, in a wheel
chair!
"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."
Proverbs 17:22 © 2005 by Dot McGinnis
dot720@wpa.net
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dot McGinnis is a poet and a published author from
Pennsylvania with a Scripture Major who has served as assistant editor for the
Christian newspaper Majesty. She suffers from a neurological disorder,
scoliosis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and had a compression fracture in her
back; which resulted in a bone spur that left a nerve root pressed against her
spinal cord. This might impair her ability to walk in the future. However, Dot
is placing her faith and trust in God that this will never happen. She is
retired yet continues serving the Lord via the Heavenly Inspirations Ministries.