Sunny Sunday

Hello! Today's big story is of course the sun:) It's a big story because we haven't seen it around here in a long time, and all of a sudden yesterday, it showed up! As a friend in church reminded me, she takes comfort in the reassurance that "the sun is always shining", repeated to herself. And that is wonderful and no less true than the fact that it's shining today! But it's so hard to remember that the sun is really out there, when you're enduring day after day of grayness, often accompanied by rain. I know if I lived in Sweden or even Alaska I'd have to get used to blackness after just a few hours of sun every day this time of year. But nevertheless, I lament the heavy mantle of the Midwesterners, which seems TOO heavy sometimes, with so many people suffering from the very real condition of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD...isn't that just sad to say?). Myself I've been indoors doing very little, MANY days this season. If not because it was raining or sleeting, snowing or windy--because I was "just not into" going out. I didn't want to see anyone or so anything, didn't want to deal with the world and its inconveniences or misunderstandings. So many "accessibility" features have just missed the mark in my experience. There's an entrance to a building for wheelchairs or walkers, but it's way in the back or farrrrrr off to the right of the front door. What are we, servants? Are we inferior? So I don't need thoughts like that, and to avoid them, I usually avoid situations that might cause them. Hence my trip to the library to print things out has been procrastinated since November, and few things inspire me to go out of my way to be a part of them, when in the back of my mind, my primary thought is how easy it is for MOST people. But the funny thing is, sometimes I almost forget to even bring my walker with me when I'm hurrying out the door. As somebody reminded me today--"you're not disabled...you're differently abled":) A bit corny, a bit cliché, but you know those things become "things" in our culture because there is a lot of validity to them. Speaking of getting out, tonight I'm doing that again, despite having been to one of the earlier services! I'm going because it's the special "Epiphany" service, which in my church (at least this year--I don't know if it's every year) means everybody gets a candle for the service:) There were candles at Christmas, but not for everyone. This is in celebration of the light that was given to the world, and I imagine, to an extent, that we carry within ourselves. I think that's what makes the Epiphany relevant to this blog entry; we ALL have something to give. There are those of us, like me, who are "differently abled" and thus not able to contribute in the exact same ways as everyone else. But like the accessible entrance that's way off to the side, meaning it takes us longer to get to the front door than it would take somebody just bounding the front steps, eventually we get there. Eventually everyone DOES get there! In his or her own way, as part of the world just as much as the sun we don't always see but KNOW never goes away completely--the Disabled reach the doorway sooner or later:)