Bringing out the Best

We have spent the past almost 16 months working our tails off to give Mikail the very best chance at having a developmentally normal future as possible. When we were told that he would never sit, crawl, walk, talk or eat on his own we were devestated, but then we remembered that although doctors are super smart and often right in their prognosis, we believe in a much greater Physician who can work miracles. We continued to believe in those miracles for Mikail...not know what they would mean. Perhaps it would be just tiny little miracles...or really big ones. We didn't know, but we kept believing in them, but also working our tails off.

Knowledge is power, so I began researching brain development in infants and soon learned that the first two years of a child's life are essential in brain development. Where pathways were destroyed, a baby's brain is so elastic and still developing that it can create new pathways around the damaged ones. WOW. Two years to do a lot of repair work, so we are giving it our all. It's not easy. It's often tiring and leaves me feeling weary. But mostly it's the most rewarding thing ever.

This morning I was reading a little snippet written by Bob and Debby Gass (UCB Canada) and I'd like to quote it here because it's just so encouraging and makes me want to keep going --especially this week when I have an unhappy little boy who is doing this high pitched scream when he doesn't get his way or we don't understand what he is trying to communicate to us. I hope it is of encouragement to you too...whether you are walking this road of bringing out the best in your child who is working hard on development, or wherever you are at in life:

"Be strong and of good courage." Deuteronomy 31:6
Over and over in Scripture God says things like: "Be strong and of good courage, do not...be afraid...for the Lord...goes with you: (Deut. 31:6) Why does God keep saying that? To bring out the best in us! The history books are full of gifted people whose talents were overlooked until someone believed in them. Einstin was four years old before he coudl speak. Isaac Newton did poorly in grade school. A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney because he had 'no good ideas'. Tolstoy flunked out of college. There's a lesson here: people develop at different rates. To motivate them you must always be on the outlook of hidden capacities. Your words create an environment in which people not only discover their gifts, but develop and excel in them. John Erskine, professor of English at Columbia University, was an educator, and witty lecturer. Writing about that remarkable career, his wife, Helen, attributed it to his 'defiant optimism'. 'He was a good teacher,' she said, 'because of his own excitement for learning and his trust in the future'. He would say to her: 'Let's tell our young people that the best books are yet to be written the best paintings have not yet been painted; the best governments are yet to be formed; the best is yet to be done by them' Within every human being there is a God-given drive to achieve something. If you tap into that drive and demonstrate that you believe in their future, they'll do almost anything to live up to your expectations.

(from The Word for You Today-A Devotional for Our Time written by Bob and Debby Gass of UCB Canada--Sept. 1 2011)

Pretty encouraging hey?

Well, I am off to bring out the best in my little guy today!