Gravitating to the Needy

Story of the Day for Monday June 2, 2014

Gravitating to the Needy

 

                           The Lord is good to all; he has mercy on all he has made.

Psalm 145:9

This past year, one of Ireland’s greatest authors, Christopher Nolan, died at the age of 43. Throughout his life he was showered with awards, including: the Honorary Doctor of Letters in the UK, the medal of excellence form the United Nations Society of Writers, and the Person of the Year award in Ireland.

I want to contrast this writing genius with another Irishman who died last year. He went to the same school as the members of the rock band, U2. The band wrote a song, “Miracle Drug,” about this classmate who was born a paraplegic. Doctors gave him a drug which allowed him to control one muscle in his neck. They attached a pointer on his forehead. And then his mother, Bernadette, would patiently hold his head in her cupped hands while her paralyzed son would painstakingly attempt to point to a letter of the alphabet. At his normal rate of about 15 minutes to point to one letter, it would take him about 24 hours to write this sentence.

 

Who is more precious in the eyes of God: an author of dazzling genius or an invalid who takes 2 ½ hours to describe his condition – paraplegic? Sometimes we tend to determine a person’s worth by how much they contribute to society; how much they give to us.  But what about those who have nothing to give to us?  Have you considered how much we gain by what we give to them?  I am humbled by the patience and love that this mother could bring to her paralyzed son. This paralyzed young man inspired Bono to sing his life into our hearts as well.

And, you may be interested to know that Ireland’s heralded author, Christopher Nolan, and the paraplegic child are the same person.

George Gallup Jr. and Timothy Jones wrote a book, The Saints Among Us.  They looked at religious commitment among Americans and isolated those factors that indicated happiness in a person’s life.   The results were surprising.  The happiest people in America tended to be poor, and a member of a racial minority.  But they also discovered that families with a severely handicapped child tended to be happier than those families lacking such a special child to love and care for.

We can see clearly in the gospels that Jesus loves all people.  Yet, how his heart gravitated to the needy!  He showed special care for the very people who were shunted off to the edges of society.

Christopher Nolan has given a great gift to the world.  But his gift is more than the genius of his writings.  His gift is being there, that the healthy may learn to care for the weak.  And that all may learn the compassion of Christ’s heart for us.

(copyright 2011 by climbinghigher.org and by Marty Kaarre)  (image:https://kaarre.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/994a4-1224241576645_1.jpg)

Read Full Post »