Devotions from Gary Thomas’ book Pure Pleasure
Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, an international community for people with intellectual disabilities said, “ So many people with disabilities are seen by their parents and families only as a tragedy…. But every child, every person, needs to know that they are a source of joy; every child, every person, needs to be celebrated. Only when all of our weaknesses are accepted as part of our humanity can our negative, broken self-images be transformed.” The sooner we accept our weaknesses as part of our humanity, the more we can learn to embrace others. Our homes should be a place we here we are loved, celebrated, and enjoyed, not a place of judgment and disappointment. Let us take pleasure in one another. Families begin to break down when they stop enjoying one another. Children are not just projects to be improved but real people to be enjoyed, to laugh with, to relate to, to play with. Families often get obsessed by fears, worry about the future, and concerns of all that could go wrong. When we do this we bury the present and its joy and no longer build times of pleasure together. Enjoying the present instead reminds us of all that is right. Today why not ask ourselves what we can do to bring pleasure to our spouse, kids, and friends.
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