Beautiful Art: August 2012

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Caught between Heaven and Earth, Autism

I am watching this incredible film and I wanted to share an insight I had while listening to it. "A Mother's Courage: Talking Back to Autism" is about children with autism and how their families relate to this. My husband and I have been teaching art to disabled adults since the end of this February and I have often asked myself why we are doing this. What does God want me to do to help these people.....how can I help them? But I am learning from them and I am learning about myself and more about God as well. The people we work with are adults but are very childlike. Some have down syndrome, some have brain injuries, some have autism. But, they are always reaching for something that they do not have. Comfort, answers, light, recognition, memory, flight to a different life. There is pain for them, unhappiness but often fleeting happiness. I feel terrible sometimes that my life is normal. But is it that I am normal in this life?? What I am wondering after watching this film "A Mother's Courage" is that are people who have autism caught between Heaven and Earth? I have heard that autistic people and others with similar disabilities are given this challenge here on earth because they were valiant in the spirit world, Heaven, before they came to earth. So, they are protected by their disability from going through the normal challenges and problems we all face, (people without disabilities) because they were so valiant in Heaven. They are perfect people, really but are "covered" with autism, brain injuries, down syndrome, etc. and are given the gift of trying to help us "feel" the spirit through their struggling. They are trying to communicate what they are seeing in the spirit world, or Heaven and how they are trying to manage living in Earth life. This is just my idea. I was watching this film and was noticing how the children were always looking up and around, like they saw people around them. Were they talking to angels, were angels talking to them? Perhaps the pain they show on their faces, the struggling, the difficulty they express to just do anything is the fact that they are caught in the middle.....they live on earth but spiritual people, angels, their loved ones from Heaven, God, the Saviour.....are also talking to them. Do you think this is possible? Why do they not talk? What is it that is going on in their minds? Is it that they want to go back to Heaven but are here on Earth and have to get through their lives here.....so that is extremely hard for them? For some reason, there is something about these people that I am drawn to. I am a shy person and have had many challenges in my own life......sadness, aloneness, worry, fear, etc. But also I have had wonderful images of Heaven, the beauty of life, etc. I wonder if we were to ask a person with autism or down syndrome, etc. if they see angels or if angels are talking to them, or does God talk to them......what would they say? This is just my idea, an idea, a thought that just came to me as I was watching this film. Also, why are there so many children and adults with autism in our time period? Are these dear people spiritual people caught in an earthly life?? Behind their blank stares, their eyes turning away, their frightening, terribly sad tantrums and everything else.....are these people great and wise and valiant people trying to cope with earth life and also teach us something of Heaven as well? Perhaps they are totally beyond us in every way and that is why they become so frustrated but know they must live on earth and be just as valiant as they were in Heaven before. Tell me what you think of this idea? Watch someone with these disabilities and see if you are prompted to think they might be caught between a life in a beautiful, heavenly place and this world that is filled with absolutely just the opposite. I want to know what you think. They are such amazing people. There must be something about them that we are missing unless we really think differently.

Friday, August 10, 2012

friday......time to have fun!!

going to see katy perry's movie tonight. can't wait. looks like so much fun. i hope you are having a great friday. time to have fun and smile and laugh. bye!