Some Mothers Chosen By God

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Someone sent this to me...and it really helped!

Some Mothers Chosen By God
By Erma Bombeck
Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit.

This year, nearly 100,000 women will become mothers of handicapped children. Did you ever wonder how mothers of handicapped children are chosen?

Somehow, I visualize God hovering over earth selecting His instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As He observes, He instructs His angels to make notes in a giant ledger.

"Armstrong, Beth, son. Patron saint, Matthew.

"Forrest, Marjorie, daughter. Patron saint, Cecelia.

"Rudledge, Carrie, twins. Patron saint...give her Gerard, He's used to profanity."

Finally, He passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a handicapped child."

The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."

"Exactly," smiles God. "Could I give a handicapped child a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel."

"But has she patience?" asks the angel.

"I don't want her to have too much patience or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wears off, she'll handle it.

"I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I'm going to give her has his own world and that's not going to be easy."

"But Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."

God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."

The angel gasps, "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"

God nods. "If she can't separate herself from the child occasionally, she'll never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with a child who is less than perfect. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is to be envied. She will never take for granted a "spoken word." She will never consider a "step" ordinary. When her child says "Momma" for the first time, she will be present at a miracle and know it! When she describes a tree or sunset to her blind child, she will see it as few people ever see my creations.

"I will permit her to see clearly the things I see....ignorance, cruelty, prejudice... and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as she is here by my side."

"And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in mid-air.

God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."

<-- (Speachless)

Sounds more like a completely lopsided way of glorifying disabilities.

um...ok

Not at all.

It's a metaphorical way of glorifying the mothers of children with disabilities.

I hope these poetic words arent being taken the wrong way. Sometimes mothers with children with disabablities struggle with the WHYS. WHy me, why all three of my kids? WHat did i do wrong? WHy? These words are just suppose to lighten some hearts a bit. Not confuse people.

The "why" is found in solid medical science, not in God. To dwell on such things borders on neglect. Deal with the situations life gives you rather that constantly staring up, waiting for somebody else to do it for you.

Whether you believe in God or not I seriously doubt that we come into this word 'accidentally'. To think otherwise is like saying that we 'accidentally' do math for no apparant reason.

I did not say we come into this world accidently. We come into this world as a result of our parents engaging in sexual intercourse.
And your analogy to doing math makes no sense.

Yet this happens. What are we to make of that?
[/thread crap]

This is just a sweet piece intended to make certain mothers feel better about their lives and circumstances. WHY is there something wrong with that? We're not waiting for someone to do anything for us.

And, yes, I have faith. Science explains HOW, but it doesn't do a great job with WHY. The world starts to pre-natally select out babies with Downs, and so autism rates (and the severity) rises instead. Why? Oh, yes, there will be a scientific explanation of HOW it happened, but it won't explain the interesting irony in the timing. It can't. It is in these gaps that I look to faith for possible answers. Not facts; faith is not fact; just possibilities.

But I don't expect you to buy it. Just respect my right to it without demeaning my intelligence in choosing it (as those without faith so very often do).

Glorification by proxy.



That analogy doesn't fit. We don't do math accidentally because we are living, thinking beings. We make decisions to do things, or do them out of habit, or whatever. But saying that's the same as people coming into the world requires the assumption that there is someone to do the thinking, i.e. God. Unless you're talking about the parents, in which case the statement is essentially that nobody ever makes mistakes with regard to sex, which is patently false.

Sorry to tell you this, but there is no divine plan. The universe is a mess of atoms and probability. s**t happens. You might as well enjoy it. The end.



For starters, that never happened.

I'm not sure I need to say more than that, but I'll add that science can explain a "why" in matters of causality. If a causes b, then b happened because of a. There isn't always a clear distinction between why and how anyway. And irony, by the way, is sometimes just that. It's a matter of perception.

There are a lot of posters who are on the spectrum here, and you'll discover that most of those on the spectrum aren't very interested in pretty words, religion, and the like. Things just are, or are not. Logic and science rule everything. They don't "get" what is supposed to be comforting about a piece like the one you posted.

But I enjoyed it. I'm probably more NT than AS.

No worries. It's just the way things around here. I figure understanding things here helps me understand my son, so it's all good. Even when it doesn't seem so at first read.

And others do get it but think it's ridiculous.

I absolutely love these interesting posts and in no way take it in a negative way. I have 2 Aspie boys. I am kinda use to this way of thinking. Very black and white. Funny, my husband says science is God. I believe that too. But the science is so big our minds can only grasp some of it. Science always seems to have a plan. Even if we dont understand it.

I enjoyed that little story, art4autism. Thanks for sharing.