Our residents have been having trouble with selfishness. It's very easy to spoil the disabled, because it can feel cruel to deny them anything when they already suffer so much. And it can be difficult for them to do things for others since they can hardly do things for themselves. But all human beings need to give up the self for the sake of love, and it's denying the residents the basic dignity of humanity to imagine that they cannot sacrifice for Jesus and others.
I'd started my campaign by convincing J to offer the front seat to M for an outing, explaining that it was a wonderful way to show she loved M and also Jesus. J was obliging, fully ready to do something she'd get praised for, and sure she loves M, so why not? Then we got home and she stopped still, working things out: we're home, no one will be riding in the front seat again tonight, and she still hasn't ridden in it. In the full grip of the anti-climax she seemed to be saying, "You said this would be so great, so why does it suck?" So of course tears came next, and I realized that "You'll get your reward in forty years after you've died!" was not going to soothe the troubled waters. She gave up something tangible, and really only something else tangible was going to fit the bill.
But today at the Steubenville bookstore I found "Sacrifice Beads" in every color, so now everyone in our houses (including staff and some of the volunteers!) has their very own, with instructions on how to use them. In a shocking denouement of self-knowledge, I found that my own beads did not fly by as quickly as I was expecting. We'll need to return to the topic of dying to self and then getting to move a nifty bead incessantly over the next few weeks, but my hope is that in the end everyone will have some acquaintance with a short list of nice things they can do for others to show that they love Jesus.
