Turning point !

One of the challenges we face with children, who have behavioural challenges, is to help them to relate meaningfully and adjust to difficult situations. 

I remember watching this child recently at play supervised by a colleague. She took over half an hour to settle down to move from indifference to a reasonable level of engagement. This picture is a reminder of that turning point. Seeing this doll, she became responsive and playful and stayed that way for the rest of the time even returning to activities she initially was indifferent to. 

There are turning points in each of our lives related to all sorts of attitudes or values. 

It is now eighteen months since Anna and I came to live in Kerala to care for my mother. Since we came we have a had long journey to learn the nuances of living in ‘God’s own country’. We have been through the learning curve to get familiar with customs,, cultural and ritualistic practices, religious traditions, dos and dont’s in relationships, etc. The demand was so much that the learning became almost a burden. 

However the turning point was when, Anna once mentioned that, ‘we are here to stay and it is good for us to adjust quickly’. Since that consciousness gripped both of us as a longing, we have found the last four months lot more easier. Now we have begun to find somethings delightful. Anna has a kitchen garden, and has attempted to grow vegetables and fruits. I have begun to enjoy my long therapeutic walks along a stream and through a hill top and have found watching nature and birds stimulating. Both of us are beginning to enjoy the life in the country side, where life is lived at a slower pace and with ease. Except when we are in a hurry, when someone stops us to ask our biography, we seem to regard it as the way of life here. 

The turning points are given to us to awaken us to realities beyond us. 

That is what Jesus of Nazareth conveyed to humankind at His crucifixion! God is so loving that He made Jesus suffer and die to draw all people to Himself! Jesus referring to this said, ‘If I be lifted up from the earth, then shall I draw all to Myself’. That is what happened on the first day of the week after His crucifixion. He had risen!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)