I sat at a table covered by a purple table cloth with tea cups set up across both sides of the table.
Minutes later the kids come running around the corner. Everyone is here to celebrate Judy’s birthday.
Judy is from London, and is the founder of the foster home that I’ve spent three weeks volunteering at. She works for another foundation to maintain a visa in Thailand but spends all of her time caring for 8 children with disabilities. Today was a day to celebrate her!
As the kids file in, taking their seats, sipping their ‘tea’ (koolaid) and awaiting their plate of wafer cookies and a cup cake- I pan around the room.
Gentle chaos.
I see Yen standing with Mickey.
He’s insisting on getting a tea cup for Mickey to enjoy a cup of ‘tea’ (koolaid).
Yen is my age.
He spent years in an institution for orphans, and when he was old enough to take care of himself he had to leave the facility. Knowing that he needed training in how to take care of himself, a kind lady took him in and began teaching him things like- how to communicate effectively, how to make money cleaning up peoples yards, how to make food when he was hungry, etc.
I’m not exactly sure how he got here, but he has been an incredible help to the staff at Hope Home.
Yen has taken Mickey under his wing as a brother, someone he wants to help and take care of. Mickey had a stroke a few years ago and requires total care- including feeding. With Yen’s help, Mickey is able to eat and drink what most of the children at the house have.
To the world many would see Yen’s life full of limitations. He also has special needs. He never went to school and only knows what others have taught him. He has a speech deficit. He more than likely wouldn’t know what to do outside of the controlled environment he is in.
I even struggled with this for a short time at the house- seeing only the things keeping him from living his best fullest life.
Then it happened. God spoke to my heart and said, “If you stop looking at what he doesn’t have, or what he could have, and fix your eyes on exactly what he does have, you’ll find he is living his greatest life- a life full of possibilities.”
I wondered how often I do that?
Look at others as if they could have better, or as if they should have more. It made me consider my own life and how often I put limits on what I can or can’t do because of what I do and don’t have. And how often do I put those same limits on others? Those same limits on God?
Over the course of the month I watched Yen carefully. I saw a young man spend hours doing physical therapy exercises for his friend Mickey. I saw a thoughtful man ride his bike daily to the village’s local restaurant to pick up food for the staff at the home. I saw a youthful man follow the entire group of kids around the neighborhood every morning pushing Mickey in his chair. I saw a compassionate man give Mickey baths, change Mickey’s diapers and feed Mickey every meal.
I saw fearlessness, faith, and greatness through an entirely new lens.
We aren’t born with limitations.
We aren’t born with some predetermined capacity for greatness. We were created to live limitless, because we serve a God who has no limits.
Each of us is born with possibilities-
Possibilities far greater than we could ever see, dream, or imagine.
After having a heart-check, I watched everything Yen did with the perspective of possibility. And oh how I saw things differently…
He lived and did everything he could to best of his ability. He was completely invested in this partnership with Mickey to help him survive. He was living his best-fullest life using the gifts and talents God has given him. He walked out his life with no limitations, fully focused on possibility.
What would life look like if we focused less on the self-proclaimed limitations and focused more on the God-proclaimed possibilities?
I believe we would be able to see more clearly that we have both people and talents in our life, that were placed there for a reason, directly related to the plans and purposes God has for us!
I believe we would be motivated to go toward the promised plans and purposes of endless possibilities!
I believe we would want to love in a way that includes others because of their possibilities, rather than excludes them for their limitations.
I believe if there were more Yens in the world-living our lives believing in the possibilities- we’d be helping many others others live a life of greatness too!
XOXO
Tay
