"Love others as well as you love yourself." (Matthew 22:39b, MSG)
Abbé Adolphe-Julien Fouré's vision was to become a priest and to serve the
people of his beloved Brittany. He did this with passion until he had a stroke
at the age of 55, which left him completely deaf as well as mute. He had no
choice but to retire from his clerical duties.
In his shoes, I would have felt quite depressed, useless, like I was a burden to
society. It's quite easy in such times to start hating ourselves!
He was determined, however, to not become discouraged. He decided to move to the
village of Rothéneuf, near Saint-Malo in France. Although he could now neither
hear nor speak, he was inspired to begin carving sculptures, some of wood, and
others from the living rock. He was so determined that even today more than 120
years after he had dedicated himself to this task, more than 300 of his rock
sculptures can still be seen.
He became an inspiration to his entire region. If a deaf/mute could make such an
impact to society, every one of us, whether handicapped or not, could have a
similar impact on the world! The problem is that we tend to relish being
swallowed up by self-pity. After all, when we find ourselves rejected and
abandoned by our loved ones, we tend to feel unlovable, and we easily conclude
that we are worthless. It doesn't take long for us to begin to hate ourselves!
May we learn from Abbé Adolphe-Julien Fouré that the only thing that can stop us
from being useful is our own attitude! Nothing can hinder us from loving others,
as long as we refuse to submit to discouragement.
One of my favourite characters in the Bible is King David. He, too, had many
opportunities to thoroughly hate himself and feel completely useless. Some of us
can completely identify with David when he wrote:
"My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails
because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak. Because of all my enemies, I
am the utter contempt of my neighbors and an object of dread to my closest
friends- those who see me on the street flee from me. I am forgotten as though I
were dead; I have become like broken pottery." (Psalms 31:10-12, NIV2)
Do you feel at times like broken pottery? I haven't met anyone that hasn't felt
this way at one time or another. We are human after all!
How would we have felt if we had been in David's shoes? Like broken pottery as
well? How would we feel when the king that we serve and who is also our
father-in-law, wants to completely destroy us and uses every means at his
disposal to do so? But as if that isn't bad enough, his brothers also mocked
him, and his own son, Absalom, usurped his throne, making him run for his life a
second time.
Calamities were part of David's life, and he, too, could have ended up becoming
completely discouraged. He didn't though. Instead he developed an intimate
relationship with His Heavenly Father, who sustained Him during those desperate
times. Because of this, David could boldly proclaim: "But I trust in you, LORD;
I say, 'You are my God.'" (Psalms 31:14, NIV2) He became a pillar of faith, so
much that God declared about him: "'I have found David son of Jesse, a man after
my own heart . . .'" (Acts 13:22b, NIV2)
Although David made many horrible mistakes, he never stopped trying to serve God
with all of his heart. The many psalms he wrote are an indication of where his
hope was anchored.
May we remember that self-pity will only lead to heartache, and eventually we
may end up hating ourselves completely. Love cannot bloom in such circumstances,
unless we let God fill us with His love.
You can make a difference in this world, no matter what your handicap might be.
Hey look what I have found! Some wood. Hmmm . . . I have an idea!
Rob Chaffart
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