In the pile of papers I referenced yesterday were some old test scores. Since Paul attends public schools, they assess his educational progress as mandated by various federal and state bodies.
The things they want to measure, he can’t do. His scores on reading, reading comprehension, math, math concepts and the like were as low as you can score and still be breathing.
The things they can’t measure – like his inherent, God-created dignity as a human being – he excels at.
I used to cry when those came in the mail every year. They still make me sad, not because of how severely disabled they ‘objectively’ show him to be, but because this is the cultural measure of his worth.
And therein lies a danger to children with disabilities not yet born. These are the objective measures of ‘reality’ that doctors and social workers and university professors understand – and which are communicated to parents who live in and breathe the air of this culture. The decision to do away with such seemingly worthless human beings then appears to be obvious.
No, let us talk about what is truly real. God creates some to live with disabilities (Exodus 4:11), he knows all their days (Psalm 139:13-16), he will supply every need (Philippians 4:19), and he knows the end from the beginning (Revelation 21:5-7).
It is entirely speculation on my part, but I believe that my Paul will someday hear these words from Jesus himself:
Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.
And for another look at what’s going on inside the womb, the folks at Abort73.com have released another video – The Case Against Abortion: Prenatal Development.
My Jakie turns 18 next month and I still cringe and cry before and after every IEP meeting. It makes me so angry and hurt to hear his “test results”. I always want to scream out loud…..”don’t you see how special he is….what a gift he is to me…..what a gift from God he is?”. Thank you John for being such a spokesman for these children. I rest assured that God knows just how “special” our Jakie and your Paulie is. How much these children are able to be used by Him much more than we ( “the normal”) ones.
Beautiful words. Simply beautiful.
[…] Some things are harder to measure than other things – we need to be careful how we assess our children – are we measuring the things God measures (and this isn’t just for children with challenges) […]
[…] Some things are harder to measure than other things – we need to be careful how we assess our children – are we measuring the things God measures (and this isn’t just for children with challenges) […]
IDNX is something that has been missing for sometime now. Good looking out, Thies Lindenthal