The Land of Misfit Toys

If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.

..Flavia Weedn

I am working on a photo display for the graduation celebration of a courageous and beautiful young woman. This young girl has gone through loss in ways most of us can only begin to understand. And yet, she has hung on to her dreams...amidst all of the struggles. Adopted into one of the most amazing families at 16 years old,  Taylor inspires me to remember that we can always begin again. It hasn't been easy..but easy is overrated anyway. I believe that God has plans to use Taylor and her story in amazing ways to encourage others who have felt alone and rejected.

The quote above is one that has inspired Taylor along the way. When reading it, I can not help but think of how each of our kids have had dreams that have broken into little pieces...whether it be through loss of family, loss through disability, or loss of innocence because of abuse or neglect that they had experienced before they  came to us. A thousand little pieces...a dream that seems shattered..but God knows of each of those fragments that have fallen and have crumbled.

It reminds me of the image that God reveals to us in 2 Corinthians 4:7 when it says, "We have this treasure in jars of clay to show us that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." We are broken clay pots--filled with cracks and useless on our own. Without Christ Jesus, we would stay that way...broken little pieces. But, when we reach for him in the midst of our pain, he illuminates the pieces of our dreams that are worthy of bringing back alive again. In our neediness and imperfections, we are truly able to glorify God. No one is too disabled, too damaged, too weak, too poor or too alone to be used by God. In fact, it is out of all of our brokenness, that our tender love, compassion, and joy can flow to others.

And so, as I watch my children grow, I don't often think of what dreams were  lost...or even the dreams that I have lost as I watch them struggle with disabilities and wonder what could have been. And yet, their are times when I think of our family as the "the land of misfit toys" on the movie Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. We are just a bunch of broken toys--but we are together as one...we are family supporting each other through the good and the bad times.

So, like my friend Taylor,  each of my children have a story that has some pain and brokenness attached to it. And I will be praying that God will use their experiences to deepen their faith in a way that can not be found in traveling the easy road.