A few years ago, I was listening to a speaker talk about handicaps and crutches. She had a limp, the technical word would be foot-drop, and described how for a large part of her life she felt very insecure because of the way people would look at her. She also had other health related issues that caused undesired weight gain. After years of struggling and self reflection, she realized that she is not the only one walking around with some sort of handicap or crutch, but rather 99.9% of people out there are...hers just happened to be visible and exposed for the world to see and, at times, judge. However, we all have a “perceived” deficiency that we grapple with. For some it’s emotional, for some it’s psychological and for some it’s physical. The two formers are easier to hide than the latter, but that doesn’t make them any less significant.

This reminded me that we never know what kind of battles the people in our lives are dealing with. I remind my kids that they can’t expect their friends to be perfect when they certainly aren’t. Everyone needs grace and the latitude to be human. And we all need to be a bit kinder, a bit more generous with our affection, and a whole lot more understanding. This is tough as we are all caught up in trying to over compensate for our own perceived handicaps that we forget that everyone else is struggling too.

What handicaps or crutches are you walking around with? I can name about 10 right now. 😅