lessons from dennis.

Today was a long day. A lovely day nonetheless, but long. Long enough for me to come home and take a nap at 5:30 and not wake up until my dad came marching in telling me the hamburgers were ready at 7:45. It was a typical Monday I guess you could say. I'm lucky though, because unlike a lot of people who dread Monday mornings, I love heading to my job every morning. Being there just makes me happy and teaches me so many lessons. I work with disabled adults and they are the best teachers in the entire world. Their joy is contagious. There is one particular sweet man who I have the privilege of working with and I want to share with you some of the "lessons" he has taught me in the last few weeks.

Dennis is ALWAYS happy. Even though he has endured things most people couldn't imagine, he just has this joy within him that shines so bright. He finds a reason to smile no matter what. We usually go around in the mornings asking everyone if they would like to pray for anything. Dennis is always eager to do so. This was his prayer the other day:

"Dear Lord, thank you for this special, special day you have given to us. Please help us to glorify you in all that we do and to have a wonderful day. In your precious holy name, the ONLY holy name, Amen."

Now, this might seem like a simple prayer, but let me remind you that this sweet man has a hard time remembering things and a lot of what  he says doesn't always make a lot of sense. It doesn't matter if he can't always think clearly with his head...his heart isn't affected by that one tiny bit.

Today I was chatting with him as I was getting ready to head home for the day. He was asking me if there was anything special going on tomorrow. (This is a usual question for him. He loves when anything out of the ordinary is going on.) I told him tomorrow was just going to be a normal day and he proceeded to ask me what day tomorrow is. I told him tomorrow is Tuesday and his whole face lit up. His reply: "Tomorrow is Tuesday?! I work on Tuesdays! I work EVERY day! It is just so wonderful; I can hardly wait!"

This man can take the most ordinary things and find joy in them. I can't begin to tell you how much I admire this about him. Every day to him is special. He gets excited about "working." He gets excited when I tell him he can have milk with his dinner. He gets excited when he gets to write with an orange pen. Most of all, he gets excited about God. He is constantly reminding everyone that those beautiful flowers outside, ya they come from God. And if you ask him what his favorite book is he will tell you it's the Bible.

Every day I leave work with a new flame in my heart. A flame that makes me want to be as excited about life as Dennis is. He never views himself as limited. I want to find joy in going to work and drinking milk with my dinner and writing with colored pens.

Beauty in even the small things.

That's what I want to live for.