Limitations
Marcus, age 8, autistic, approaches the church pulpit to deliver his prepared speech - referring regularly to notes he has made about what he wants to say. He speaks with abandon, energy, love, animation, and impromptu choreography. He is describing all the activities his family is involved in - and when he gets to Disneyland, on his notes, he looks up, thrusts both arms straight out toward the audience and says, with explosive excitement, “and we go to DISNEYLAND!!!!”, shaking his arms toward us. What immediately came to my mind was that we should all be and live like Marcus.
I have been pondering, for years, the phenomenon of “limitations.” I have studied my own and watched others battling through theirs. I have now reached the conclusion, from my observations, that what the world describes as “limitations” are talents, gifts from God who sheds light on how we should view these, with his words, “I give men weakness that they may become strong.” I watch OCD, ADHD, Dyslexia, disorientation, bipolar, borderline personality disorder, autism, overly creative mind, obsessive compulsive, etc. The list is endless. Those who have let these titles, invented by man, limit them are subject to be influenced and even destroyed by the power of suggestion inherent in the titles. I have watched, on the other hand, people who ignore the titles and BREATHE LIFE into their limitations. When this happens, it is
I have been pondering, for years, the phenomenon of “limitations.” I have studied my own and watched others battling through theirs. I have now reached the conclusion, from my observations, that what the world describes as “limitations” are talents, gifts from God who sheds light on how we should view these, with his words, “I give men weakness that they may become strong.” I watch OCD, ADHD, Dyslexia, disorientation, bipolar, borderline personality disorder, autism, overly creative mind, obsessive compulsive, etc. The list is endless. Those who have let these titles, invented by man, limit them are subject to be influenced and even destroyed by the power of suggestion inherent in the titles. I have watched, on the other hand, people who ignore the titles and BREATHE LIFE into their limitations. When this happens, it is
nothing short of beautiful, even miraculous. I have seen autism healed by the saturation of love and constant faith and trust in one’s ability to not just reach beyond but “use” the gift of their weakness- as a sort of springboard or even incentive to create and become. I have seen lists of dyslexics include Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Beethoven, Handel. I see autistic children mainstreamed, driving, holding jobs, functioning at not only high levels, but highly creative, beautiful levels. I have watched all kinds of psychosis bring to the world genius and creativity beyond possibility.
I have a daughter who was born with 99% right-brain creativity. Observing her, over the years, has convinced me that she has a “magic wand” embedded in the fibers of her soul. I call her my Leonardo Da Vinci. She works as a highly-esteemed psychological therapist at UCLA. She has been told by the director that she should feel free to do whatever she wants to do because all that she does is so much more creative and ingenious than anything they have ever seen before. This exact thing was told to her in two previous jobs.
Clint Eastwood, in a movie, once said, “A man has got to know his limitations.” At first I thought that meant we should accept what we cannot do, and just move on to those we can. I now believe that “knowing” one’s limitations can be the most exciting discovery we ever make. We can enjoy them and give credit to them for making us the creative, interesting people we are and for all that comes to pass because we have decided to “glory” in our weakness, limitation gifts.
I come from a long heritage of healthy dyslexia and have passed it on to posterity. Our struggle has been some of the most exciting things about our lives. My mother’s borderline personality disorder “breathings” brought us a prolific array of art in a myriad of forms. A highly dyslexic daughter brings to us writing that only heavenly pens could write, and I who have been similarly “blessed” get to jump from one form of artistic expression to the other in an effort to combine all the OCD, ADHD, dyslexia, disorientation fireworks going off in my mind. I have always believed, with all my heart, that to “know” someone is to love them. I believe if we get to “know” our limitations, we will learn to love them - and since “perfect love casteth out all fear,” our loving will thrust us
I have a daughter who was born with 99% right-brain creativity. Observing her, over the years, has convinced me that she has a “magic wand” embedded in the fibers of her soul. I call her my Leonardo Da Vinci. She works as a highly-esteemed psychological therapist at UCLA. She has been told by the director that she should feel free to do whatever she wants to do because all that she does is so much more creative and ingenious than anything they have ever seen before. This exact thing was told to her in two previous jobs.
Clint Eastwood, in a movie, once said, “A man has got to know his limitations.” At first I thought that meant we should accept what we cannot do, and just move on to those we can. I now believe that “knowing” one’s limitations can be the most exciting discovery we ever make. We can enjoy them and give credit to them for making us the creative, interesting people we are and for all that comes to pass because we have decided to “glory” in our weakness, limitation gifts.
I come from a long heritage of healthy dyslexia and have passed it on to posterity. Our struggle has been some of the most exciting things about our lives. My mother’s borderline personality disorder “breathings” brought us a prolific array of art in a myriad of forms. A highly dyslexic daughter brings to us writing that only heavenly pens could write, and I who have been similarly “blessed” get to jump from one form of artistic expression to the other in an effort to combine all the OCD, ADHD, dyslexia, disorientation fireworks going off in my mind. I have always believed, with all my heart, that to “know” someone is to love them. I believe if we get to “know” our limitations, we will learn to love them - and since “perfect love casteth out all fear,” our loving will thrust us
out forward into living a life of faith in our “inabilities,” shedding all fear that they need to be hidden in a small dark room behind a door marked, “LIMITED.” We need to love our interesting selves and the interesting people all around us. We are so fascinatingly different and each so marvelously gifted with limitations just waiting for a bellows to blast the air into the fires that are waiting to be lit by the rush of air.
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