After a long encounter with some foot problems this past year, I was in the podiatrists office getting fitted for a custom pair of shoes. Down the hall from where I was sitting, I noticed a dignified lady in her late 50’s sitting and cross stitching some very nice patterns in a pillow she was making. She was smiling and laughing with some of the people in the office, and generally enjoying herself. Looking closer, I noticed that she was missing her right leg below her knee , and seemed to have problems with her eyes.
A few minutes had passed after this initial encounter, when she suddenly walked back and forth cheerfully before entering our room, sporting a big smile. With new tennis shoes on her natural leg, and the prosthetic steel leg that was attached at the knee, she began to tell my wife and I about how she had been born with a deformity that forced her leg to be removed when she was 3 years old. She was legally blind from birth. This was the first year that she had been able to get a prosthetic leg to work, and this was the first pair of normal looking shoes that she could wear. As she began to further tell us her story, she had been completely blind until a few years ago when a technical invention allowed her limited sight and color back in one eye. She jokingly tapped her finger on the other eye, and said they couldn’t do much with the fake eye, but that she was happy with one. For the first time in her life, she said she was able to actually see her son and recognize his face from having only been able to feel his face in years past. She was so proud that she could now walk and experience her life from a whole new perspective… and those beautiful new tennis shoes were the icing on the cake….
We asked her how she learned to do such beautiful cross-stitching with her handicap of being blind, and she said she learned to do all she could with her limited ability. She said she had the ability to feel patterns, and could feel texture that would make the art she was making look just right. She had her husband help her with the right colors that were numbered, and it all worked out beautifully. She proudly said that she made dinners with a specially built counter that had everything laid out on it. She could feel her way just fine, until (she laughed) she was made taller by the prosthetic leg. Then she had to relearn the positioning of everything.
As I walked out of the room with my new shoes, I began to realize how blessed we are to be able to see, feel, walk, talk, and experience life with normal situations. I learned a bit about courage, and attitude from this lady, and saw what not letting life get you down really meant. In spite of her handicaps, she had a bright outlook, a significant talent developed with limited resource, and a deep joy in the very simple improvements she was able to experience later in life. Her gratitude for experiencing her new shoes and eyesight that was simply contagious. It made me doubly thankful for my new pair of shoes after only 1 year of foot problems.
Her attitude reminded me of the verses :
Philippians 4:11-12-13
4:11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content in any circumstance.
4:12 I have experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment, whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing.
4:13 I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me.
God Bless and have a Grateful Week.
Jeff Dyk
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