The Reality of Disability

Running along the canal, there are all sorts of passerbys...

A girl in long black hair, always dressed in black, frown on her face.

An elderly man and woman holding hands, with sunshades and a fannypack.

A helper pushing along an elderly man on a wheelchair

Another patiently walking alongside an elderly woman using a walking stick.

A muscular and genuinely good looking Caucasian running with chest hair swaying as his heart pumps blood to his well toned muscles.

The girl in sports attire with two dogs in tow.

A wandering retiree who occasionally gazes up to see the clouds in the sky.

And many, on their way to work, some in lipstick, some in uniform.

And many others.

They all have things in common, and many differences.

A girl jogged passed me like I was simply standing still...

I picked up pace to overtake a struggling fatty trying to get fit...

Once and still a fatty too, I know how it feels.

Sweat beads trickling down your face, your vision blurred, your heart in heat and your legs numb...

As you see what biologically was supposed to be slower than you zoom past you like you were the one in a wheelchair...

And the robot which just completed the half marathon faster than any human.... Does how fast you go, matter anymore?

You wonder.

Maybe I'm the disabled one.

And you look to the heavens and many a time you wish.

Why God, why not the Caucasian?

Let me be the fastest runner. The most good looking. Heart of Gold. Nerves of Steel. Determination of a marathon runner, muscles of a sprinter.

Why me... Why am I struggling with just 5 minutes of running.

The truth is. The harsh truth is.

We are all disabled.

Made in the image of God, yet with the imperfections of humanity.

Whether it's a leg lost, a mind in disarray, a heart condition, or just plain blurry eyesight... Or worst still, just an ugly face as Raybe Oh would testify to. Not to mention...

Obsessive compulsive disorder. Anger issues. Addictions.

How many of us are born with such imperfections?

How many....

Just as David faced Goliath with an obvious height and stature handicap. He still won. God never needs us to be able. Cos He is able.

I've seen many disabilities under the sun, including my own.

The disabled are the happiest not when people recognize their disabilities or compensate for their disabilities but they're happiest when you come down to them as their equal.

That means blabbering to the intellectually disabled child.

Walking slowly alongside the disabled.

Taking time to talk about issues with the depressed.

Finding it hard to recall memories with the demented

Isn't it so? Yet, many today teach us to identify these disabilities and consider ourselves (without disabilities) to seek and to save?

Who is truly the disabled one here?

Aren't we blind, many a time to our own disabilities? To our own imperfections. Why do we think we are able. When the bible.. says time and time again. He is able.

My own reflection coming to terms with my own disability is stark.

Short sighted. Diagnosed asthmatic when I was young, to only find out it was a temperature induced anaphylaxis.. coupled with many allergies. Alongside recently coming to take bp medication because of a realization that the generations above me were right that the family, including me, had a fatty gene. A triglyceride issue - caused by a metabolic disorder. To now facing bradycardia, aching muscle and allergies from some sort of heart failure that prevents me from running anything more than 2.5 km at a go. Not to talk about mental breakdowns. Not to talk about chronic sadness and esteem issues. Not to mention intellectual disabilities such as a memory weaker than most of my peers but somehow behaves like a camera. We all have a difficulty only seeing things on the surface but not within...

This is the reality of disability.

It's not about #mewatch. It's not about me saving the same world.

The reality is that we are all disabled. But that He is able.

And our abilities will not save anyone. But it's our disability that helps us to connect and seek He that is able.

Not also that we accept our imperfections, but that we continually confess our iniquities and ask God for his grace to redeem these failures in our lives.

Godliness. ..... We chase it everyday.... But we never achieve it on our own.... It's not always about what is good and bad or what is holy and unholy... But as Tim Keller puts it, about pride and humility. And the more we chase it, we chase not the God that defines it but we ourselves become the God of our own lives.

God bless us all.