I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I love it when family gets together for dinner.
When I say family, I’m including Ken’s sister and her husband and our two nephews, Cody and Kyle. My nephew, Kyle, is 15 years old now, Cody is 11, and the kids have pretty much grown up around my wheelchair, they have. And when we’re sitting at the dinner table, all of us together, the boys love helping me, their Aunt Joni. They enjoy getting me glasses of water, cutting up my food, feeding me dessert, clearing my plate when I’m done – they’ve even become specialists inserting my special spoon in my arm splint. Their mother tells me that helping me has really fostered in them a genuine heart to serve others, and not just other people like me in wheelchairs. They have a heart to serve wherever there’s a need. I honestly think the joy they’ve received over the years in helping Aunt Joni, well… that joy has expanded their vision to help other people, too. Ken’s sister does not have to tell her boys to pick up after themselves or pull their weight when it comes to household chores. For them, meeting a need kind of comes naturally for the teenagers that they are, and that’s saying something given their age! And the neat thing is, it has been my wheelchair that has fostered this special sensitivity not only in these two boys, but in their attitude toward others.
Philippians 2 pretty much describes Kyle and Cody where it says that we should learn to not only look to our own interests, but to the interests of others. And there’s no better time to begin cultivating this “interest in others” than when a child is still very young. I remember in those early years when Cody and Kyle were still getting used to my wheelchair – at first, they were afraid of me; or, I should say, afraid of my wheelchair. But I’ll never forget the first time Kyle pushed me to the dinner table… after he got me parked, I asked him to be sure to put on my brakes. Well, I think he was only 5 or 6 years old, but Kyle knew what brakes were, and so he hopped to it. Of course, when dinner was over, he jumped out of his seat and took off my brakes. Success in such a small thing like that really whet his appetite for helping me with other things – and with each year that goes by, those responsibilities for helping me continue to grow.
It’s why, when they get a little older, I’ve got my eye on them to come and serve – to volunteer -- at one of our Joni and Friends Family Retreats, because these are the kind of young people who really blossom at a retreat. I know Cody and Kyle would have no problem pushing wheelchairs; but I’m convinced any young person would fit right in volunteering at a Family Retreat. I can imagine kids that you know old enough to volunteer – maybe 17, 18, and 19 years old. They could come and volunteer and play with kids who have Down syndrome or cerebral palsy. So if you know a couple of kids who have graduated from high school, maybe going off to college, maybe in your church or neighborhood, tell them we’ve got some wonderful ways they can learn to serve, or maybe your own children – now that they are grown – or grandchildren, if they’re over the age of 17. You can get all the details at joniandfriendsradio.org. Remember, serving at a Family Retreat is just one more way a young person can really learn to look out for the interests of someone else, just as we are told to do in Philippians 2:4. And Cody and Kyle will tell you, that’s the “disability” thing to do – better yet, it’s the biblical thing to do. It’s the thing that Jesus would do.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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