The Mother of a Child with special needs

I absolutely have to blog this even though I'm dead tired and my eyes are about to shut down on me right now...

I was in Church today, and today I had the greatest sermon I have ever heard... not from the preacher, but from a mom in the audience with a child who has special needs.

This child is the size of probably a 6-7 year old. He has a ear piece on his left ear; his legs are a little bow-legged; his mouth is half-opened all the time; his teeth are protruded; his hands are weak and feeble. He doesn't have very good control of his limbs and when I first saw him, his limbs were wrapped around his mother's neck and waist.

This mother looks like a tai tai, here in Church along with her child. She doesn't look like a Singaporean, an Indonesian perhaps. She is dressed well; she is definitely well-to-do. She has her hair tied up in a small bun with just a clip. She has broad shoulders; she has strong arms. When I first saw her, she was carrying her child. Her child's limbs were wrapped around her neck and waist.

During the worship, she stood just like the rest of us, singing with her child clinging onto her. At one point, she decided to put her child down. But her child wouldn't stand, and sat on the floor instead, with his hands outstretch, as if wanting her to carry him. She looked at him and smiled, then decided to piggy-back him, while still singing songs of worship. At a particular song, she raises her left hand to praise God, while supporting her child with her left hand. She reminded me of the mothers of the old times, piggy-backing their kids while doing chores, except that she doesn't have a sling.

After a while, she put her child down and decided to hold his hands to dance with him, in rhythm to the song. He clearly enjoyed it and gave a broad grin, but he couldn't dance well because his legs are too weak.... Nonetheless, there was so much joy on their faces, as the mother and son tries to dance, praising God.

At this point, i couldn't stop crying...

I thought, what would most parents with such children do:

1. They would not bring the child at all!
2. They would put a child on a stroller or wheel chair. After all, they have weak legs.
3. They would hire a maid to take care of the child.
4. They would DEFINITELY not try to bring the child out on their own!!

But this mother did nothing of the above. She didn't care how others would react to this. She didn't care whether others think of her as foolish. She is definitely not ashamed of him. She is not afraid of the challenges of taking care of him alone. She didn't blame God for giving her a child like that. And most importantly, she wanted him to praise God.

Whenever she turns to look at her child who could only sit on the step (coz he couldn't sit properly on the chair), there was always a smile on her face - a weak smile that radiates from a mother's love. She has tired eyes, no doubt, but just being with her child takes away all the fatigue.

I look at myself and felt so ashamed. Today, we as mothers of normal children talk about "ME" time all the time. We complain about how having kids take up all our time. We justify how much we are sacrificing for our kids. We want to go on holiday, but think that bringing kids are too much of a trouble. We delegate our parental duties to maids because we are too busy. We get irritated when our kids want us to carry them all the time. We get mad when they throw tantrums. We lament when they are not like us. We tell them to work harder when they don't get 10/10 for their spelling. We are disappointed when they don't come home with a university degree...

Looking at this mom, I am really convicted of the mother's love. She simply loves him for who he is....