Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
We who are encumbered by our material possessions
and financial obligations, pride, prejudices, desire for
status and recognition; are often handicapped in spirit,
and poorer than the simple at heart whose spirit is whole.
Spend a little time to read this story.. There's a lot to learn from the simple at heart.
For those of us pretty entangled with many life pressures in a
emanding society, here's an anonymous story that I pray will
help us all learn some lessons from the very simple at heart.
I envy Kevin. My brother Kevin thinks God lives under his bed.
At least that's what I heard him say one night. He was praying
out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped to listen, "Are you
there, God?" he said. "Where are you? Oh, I see. Under the bed..."
I giggled softly and tiptoed off to my own room. Kevin's unique
perspectives are often a source of amusement.
But that night something else lingered long after the humor.
I realized for the first time the very different world Kevin lives in.
He was born 30 years ago, mentally disabled as a result of difficulties
during labor. Apart from his size (he's 6-foot-2), there are few ways
in which he is an adult. He reasons and communicates with the
capabilities of a 7-year-old, and he always will. He will probably
always believe that God lives under his bed, that Santa Claus is
the one who fills the space under our tree every Christmas and
that airplanes stay up in the sky because angels carry them.
I remember wondering if Kevin realizes he is different. Is he ever
dissatisfied with his monotonous life? Up before dawn each day,
off to work at a workshop for the disabled, home to walk our
cockier spaniel, return to eat his favorite macaroni-and-cheese
for dinner, and later to bed. The only variation in the entire
scheme is laundry, when he hovers excitedly over the washing
machine like a mother with her newborn child. He does not
seem dissatisfied...
He lopes out to the bus every morning at 7:05, eager for a day
of simple work. He wrings his hands excitedly while the water
boils on the stove before dinner, and he stays up late twice a
week to gather our dirty laundry for his next day's laundry chores.
And Saturdays... oh, the bliss of Saturdays! That's the day my
Dad takes Kevin to the airport to have a soft drink, watch the
planes land, and speculate loudly on the destination of each
passenger inside. "That one's goin' to Chi-car-go!" Kevin shouts
as he claps his hands. His anticipation is so great he can hardly
sleep on Friday nights.
And so goes his world of daily rituals and weekend field trips.
He doesn't know what it means to be discontent. His life is
simple. He will never know the entanglements of wealth or
power, and he does not care what brand of clothing he wears
or what kind of food he eats. His needs have always been met,
and he never worries that one day they may not be.
His hands are diligent. Kevin is never so happy as when he is
working. When he unloads the dishwasher or vacuums the
carpet, his heart is completely in it. He does not shrink from
a job when it is begun, and he does not leave a job until it
is finished. But when his tasks are done, Kevin knows how
to relax.
He is not obsessed with his work or the work of others..
His heart is pure. He still believes everyone tells the truth,
promises must be kept, and when you are wrong,
you apologize instead of argue.
Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances,
Kevin is not afraid to cry when he is hurt, angry or sorry.
He is always transparent, always sincere. And he trusts God.
Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he comes to
Christ, he comes as a child. Kevin seems to know God -
to really be friends with Him in a way that is difficult for
an 'educated' person to grasp. God seems like his closest
companion.
In my moments of doubt and frustrations with my Christianity
I envy the security Kevin has in his simple faith. It is then
that I am most willing to admit that he has some divine
knowledge that rises above my mortal questions. It is then
I realize that perhaps he is not the one with the handicap....
I am. My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances -
they all become disabilities when I do not trust them to
God's care. Who knows if Kevin comprehends things I can
never learn? After all, he has spent his whole life in that
kind of innocence, praying after dark and soaking up the
goodness and love of God.
And one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened,
and we are all amazed at how close God really is to our hearts,
I'll realize that God heard the simple prayers of a boy who
believed that God lived under his bed. Kevin won't be
surprised at all!
Let us not love with words or tongue but with
actions and in truth - John 3:18
happily, in the midst of all the gloom and unhappiness there is always