{"id":1577,"date":"2011-09-05T09:49:42","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T13:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=1577"},"modified":"2011-09-06T08:55:49","modified_gmt":"2011-09-06T12:55:49","slug":"approaching-the-weary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/09\/approaching-the-weary.html","title":{"rendered":"Approaching the weary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Thinking about people who work hard, I cannot help but remember those who work within the mentally challenged community. \u00a0In fact, there is always a great deal of weariness.\u00a0 Parents see no end to the responsibilities they must carry for\u00a0the well-being of\u00a0their children.\u00a0 Young parents grow bone tired of their parenting chores which are harder and last longer than other parents.\u00a0Having a mentally challenged member of your family\u00a0can be compared to having a teenager who\u00a0will never drive\u00a0for the rest of your life. Much of the life of older parents involves lost of driving to activities and events. \u00a0Thinking about that makes me weary.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Professionals who are not able to experience any growth with the people they serve often drop away from their duties because of fatigue or discouragement. \u00a0Michelle, who escaped working as an independent living home companion, said, “I was on call 24 hours a day. \u00a0I loved the people I worked with but there seemed to be no end to their concerns. \u00a0Guess I became too involved and loved the people I worked with too much.” \u00a0Add to this, funds that are never adequate and tensions regarding continuing rumors of additional cuts.\u00a0 This is a formula\u00a0that leads to a professional community who are physically, mentally and spiritually tired.<\/p>\n

However, the weariness I\u2019d like to address is what people who are mentally challenged experience each day.\u00a0 Paul is a new member of our choir.\u00a0 His disability lies within the autism spectrum.\u00a0 Even though he is a young adult, his social skills are more\u00a0limited than most kindergarten children.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nervous about his performance in choir, Paul quickly grows weary of the demands required to be a part of this team.\u00a0 This is when he begins to scratch and even claw at his face and head.\u00a0 A couple of weeks ago, his face was bleeding by the end of the hour practice and he had reopened an old wound in his scalp.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Participating in a choir has become the highlight of his life and it is the culmination of a lifelong dream.\u00a0 Therefore, my efforts are tuned to helping him relax and remain disciplined at the same time.\u00a0 I tried without success to distract him by asking him to hold a pencil in his hands while singing.\u00a0 He did it but figured out a way to scratch and hold the pencil at the same time.<\/p>\n

Sally lives in another town.\u00a0 She weeps each time Special Gathering meets because she has started to steal.\u00a0 It started only a month ago.\u00a0 She tried to walk out of a store with a large bag of candy crammed into her pants.\u00a0\u00a0It appears that she was\u00a0observed on a camera because\u00a0 two uniformed and armed\u00a0policemen were waiting for her as she exited the store.\u00a0 Fortunately, her staff had seen the large bulge in her pants and retrieved the candy before they left the store.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the next week, other incidences happened.\u00a0 It appears that each time she has attempted, she has been caught.\u00a0 Punishments has been tried and she seems ready for help.\u00a0 Yet, each time her\u00a0cunning has\u00a0worked the punishments to her advantage.\u00a0 Even a \u201cscared\u00a0straight\u201d jail experience did not put a plug into this new pension for thief.<\/p>\n

After prayer, last week, her eyes pled with me.\u00a0 \u201cAm I going to be able to stop now?\u201d\u00a0 she asked me.\u00a0 I hugged her and said, \u201cIf you really desire to stop, God will help you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Compassion is our greatest weapon against weariness regarding all those who labor.\u00a0 Of course, we need to allow for discipline to take effect.\u00a0 However, when people approach us weary of their own failed abilities. \u00a0When we approach the weary and they are asking for prayer and help, our position must be to pour out God\u2019s love and compassion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thinking about people who work hard, I cannot help but remember those who work within the mentally challenged community. \u00a0In fact, there is always a great deal of weariness.\u00a0 Parents see no end to the responsibilities they must carry for\u00a0the well-being of\u00a0their children.\u00a0 Young parents grow bone tired of their parenting chores which are harder…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,20,3,182,40,186,49,16,8,4,41],"tags":[690,21,688,7,699,715,701,266,689,57,6,700],"class_list":["post-1577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-disability","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-labor-day","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-prayer","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nApproaching the weary - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/09\/approaching-the-weary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Approaching the weary - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thinking about people who work hard, I cannot help but remember those who work within the mentally challenged community. \u00a0In fact, there is always a great deal of weariness.\u00a0 Parents see no end to the responsibilities they must carry for\u00a0the well-being of\u00a0their children.\u00a0 Young parents grow bone tired of their parenting chores which are harder…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/09\/approaching-the-weary.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-05T13:49:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-09-06T12:55:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/09\/sleeping-300x240.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Approaching the weary - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/09\/approaching-the-weary.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Approaching the weary - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"Thinking about people who work hard, I cannot help but remember those who work within the mentally challenged community. \u00a0In fact, there is always a great deal of weariness.\u00a0 Parents see no end to the responsibilities they must carry for\u00a0the well-being of\u00a0their children.\u00a0 Young parents grow bone tired of their parenting chores which are harder…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/09\/approaching-the-weary.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2011-09-05T13:49:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-09-06T12:55:49+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/09\/sleeping-300x240.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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