I worked as a Para-educator for many years in the school system. I was blessed to work five of those years with a child with severe cerebral palsy. He taught me many things.


When I first began with him he was in kindergarten, wheel chair bound and did not speak. During recess we would exercise in a gait trainer (basically similar to an infant walker.) He did not enjoy this chore. The teacher told me they would basically tie a rope to the walker and pull him around, hoping he would start moving his legs to learn this movement. How boring! Something has to change, I thought. He needs the opportunity to be a child and have some fun. How can we make this more exciting and stimulating for him to do this chore on his own? I looked around the classroom to see what I had to work with. Hmmmm… a blanket. This blanket was white, had a large weave and was thin. Let’s see what we can do with this?


We of course had to begin by my pulling him into the task, by pulling him in by the rope, to see what came next. It didn’t take long before he got into it. Are you wondering what we did? We played bull fighter of course, “Toro, Toro” I said and he came running and ran through the blanket, to which I let go of the blanket and he continued running joyfully until he ran into the wall. Don’t worry, his gait trainer had a heavy built structure and he was well protected. He would laugh and carry on, and be ready to take on the activity a second, third, fourth time..., you get the idea. We would run past the secretary doing this activity, and she would laugh and comment on how he looked like a ghost. 


Funny how we can get so much joy out of some of the simplist activities we can do with others. We were not designed to be alone. Our life was meant for us to share with others. We bless others by being in relationship with them and we allow them to bless us by allowing them to do the same.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 -- So encourage each other to build each other up, just as you are already doing.


Ephesians 2:10 -- For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Jesus Christ, so we can do the things he planned for us long ago.


Proverbs 16:24 --  Kind words are like honey sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.


I did add other games to our activities to keep them fresh, but this remained as one activity that never got old. He never stopped running into the wall at each turn in the hallway, but he would laugh harder and never allowed it to stop him. He always knew it meant he started the game fresh, despite the outcome, full of joy.


How many times in life do we run into a brick wall and call it quits? Or do we hit it head on with joy and look at is as a fresh start, new beginning, taking another chance joyously?