Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Leilani Haywood for a summer series highlighting great writers who focus on disability.
“D’Andra, you need to get dressed to get on the bus,” I said for what seemed the 500th time.
She smiled and continued to write numbers on her white board. At 7:05 am she had only 20 minutes to get dressed and wait for the bus. There was a possibility this would be a morning when I would have to drop her off at school.
At 7:12 am I turned her radio off and asked her, again, to get dressed. She picked up her outfit and went into the bathroom. When I checked on her a few minutes later, she needed some help.
She barely got on the bus that morning and I could have used that episode to start my day badly. But instead, I chose to look for the good.
- She fried bacon and made herself a breakfast burrito
- She carried the radio into the living room, turned it
on and turned the dial to a station we both agreed on - She worked on counting coins, something her teacher
said she needed to work on during last week’s IEP
meeting - She wrote numbers on her marker board
- She got herself ready with minimal help from me
Raising a child with special needs – or even what specialists call a typically developing child – is a challenge. We can choose to dwell on their weaknesses and the hassle of helping them, or we can search for the good in every situation. Search the good in them even in the midst of their struggles.
“The one who seeks good finds delight.” Proverbs 11:27a NIT
Searching requires focused effort. The definition of search is “to inquire, investigate, examine, or seek; conduct an examination or investigation.”
Searching for good allows for God to show you delight. Make an effort to investigate or examine the challenges facing you right now to find the good.
What’s the good thing you see in your challenging circumstance today?
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My Son went to VBS this week without one incident, meltdown or issue! He has come such a long way!
Excellent post! Glad I signed up. This is so much like our dear boy. I sometimes end up taking him to school because he is so s l o w in the mornings. But like you we celebrate the good things and I think that’s a hugely important lesson. If you approach life in this way it changes *everything*. Also inherent is the living one day at a time. If you tried to see the future you’d maybe get discouraged, but if you just live for today then you can celebrate the good and when it’s not so good you can fall into bed at the end of the day knowing that tomorrow you get to start over. God is always good.
Sandy, yes, God is always good, not based on our circumstances, but simply because He is good 🙂 (This was my message at the special needs mom’s retreat I spoke at a couple of weeks ago).
Looking for the good is great advice. There’s always something there to be thankful for.