Inspiration from Non-Obvious Sources
One group that I have always drawn inspiration from may be one that I think most people think of as an afterthought. These are the many special needs kids that I have been blessed to meet throughout my life.
I will never forget the first time a Downs child wrapped me in her arms to give me a huge hug and the biggest smile you could ever be blessed to share. It filled my heart with wonder as my brain tried to process why I, as a supposedly fully functioning adult, didn’t seem to be able to share such open love like this person. My wife talked me into doing a Sunday school class with special needs kids, and at first, I was overwhelmed by these two darling girls that couldn’t move a muscle and were confined by their wheel chairs. I was thinking, “What in the world can we possibly teach these kids about Jesus? They can’t acknowledge what we are teaching, and I don’t even know if they understand my words.” Oh, what a fool I was! Little did I know that those girls were teaching me about overcoming and about living life to the full with what they had been given. And little did I know when I began teaching this class with my forever girlfriend that I was doing two things — giving their parents a break from some of the most difficult and heart wrenching parenting you can ever imagine and being blessed beyond compare just being able to maybe possibly give these incredible children a touch of love, a little touch of Jesus; I found that my heart would be filled instead.
Inspiration Starts with Joy
I love watching videos of special needs kids dressed up for a football game or basketball game and not just their team but the entire opposing team doing everything they can to give these kids a first-class experience of celebrating a touchdown or scoring the winning bucket. Jesus touched just a little on this in Matthew 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” In that passage Jesus didn’t list special needs people as one of those to help, but I know I can picture the King of Kings reaching out to hug that young man with spina bifida or Downs or fetal alcohol syndrome or any other special need you can possibly imagine.
As for me, as I go about living an ultra-life I want to not have pity for these incredible people but to draw inspiration from them. I have been blessed that I can run in the mountains like I do, and many times I like to carry a picture in my mind of the special people that aren’t able to enjoy this. There is an incredible Facebook group called I Run for Michael that matches runners with special needs kids. The running community is so incredibly special that there is a long waiting list for runners to be matched with kids because there are more runners than kids. That tells you a lot about the running community as a whole (I’m somewhat still patiently waiting to be matched), and it explains why I find the running and ultra-community such an amazing group to be part of. But what about you? Can you draw inspiration for your daily life from these incredible people? After all, can you imagine what they would give to be able to go to your dead-end job? Can you imagine what they would give to be able to jump on Facebook and actually type their own messages when they can’t move a muscle in their body? So how about you live an ultra-life by acknowledging the many blessings you have been given by giving a nod and a smile or even a hug to the next special needs person you meet? I would like you to remember this as you continue to grow and change and become the awesome you that you are by remembering the ones that would give anything to be in your shoes.
Live Life Inspired
Living an ultra-life means that you do whatever you’re called to do — whether that be running an ultra-marathon, raising children, teaching school, working in a factory, leading a club, or changing the world one person at a time for Jesus Christ — with every ounce of give you have inside of you, knowing that most likely you are going to do great things and nobody is every going to know your name.
Living an ultra-life is seeing the “anything but average” in every single person you are blessed to meet and then deciding you can be inspired by them.
