Proverbs 3:34 He mocks proud mockers
but gives grace to the humble.

I was standing in line while shopping a couple of days ago, and behind me was a woman about my age whom I knew slightly. She works at the store where I shop, and she is mentally handicapped, how mildly or severely, I don’t know, but she does her job well. She was talking to a young lady about 20 years of age, and I wondered what the relationship was. The young lady was not handicapped as far as I could tell and the two were making plans to meet later after the older woman’s work was done. I couldn’t quite figure out what the two women had in common, until at last the older woman proudly introduced the 20 year old to the cashier.

“Have you ever met my daughter?” she said. “This is my daughter. She came to visit me.”

The younger lady smiled and nodded, gave her name to the cashier, paid for her purchases, and told her mother, “I’ll see you later when you get off work.”

It was not a very significant or unusual vignette. A mother introduced her daughter to her co-worker. Nevertheless, I was surprised. I was reminded of the book I read recently, Riding the Bus With My Sister by Rachel Simon. I was reminded that mentally handicapped adults have lives just like the rest of us. They have boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives, sisters and brothers, and even daughters or sons. Developmentally disabled people ride buses and work in grocery stores and love their children and make dates to meet a friend. Sometimes they sin, and they need grace just as I do. They have relationships with other people who are developmentally disabled and with friends and family members who are not handicapped.

I liked reading the book Rachel Simon wrote about the time she spent riding the city buses with her mentally handicapped sister, Beth, because Beth is a real person. She is sometimes a pain in the neck. She’s not always lovable or cooperative. Beth wants to be a “good person,” but she’s also selfish, like the rest of us, and very interested in being the center of attention, again like many others I could name. I liked the movie Napoleon Dynamite for the same reason. Napoleon is not too bright either, at least borderline developmentally disabled. He’s also not always too easy to like. He’s abrasive, and he whines. He’s a real person, and the filmmakers never let viewers forget that. He likes girls, and he has a friend named Pedro. He, too needs grace, just as I do.

Lord, give me the grace to see others I meet , not as members of some artificially contrived group–the poor, the homeless, blacks, Hispanics, whites, middle class, rich, intelligentsia, mentally disabled. Help me to see people as people with families and needs and personality quirks and gifts to share. Give me the grace to be humble and to see Your grace in the humility of others.