Now if I could just use my powers for good . . .

One of my all-time favorite TV shows is “Home Improvement” which follows the escapades of Tim “The Toolman” Taylor and his family. There are a lot of shows that I watched in my formative years that I thought were so fantastic and cutting edge at the time, only to watch them as an adult and think, “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen!” That’s a WHOLE other blog, though. In one episode, I remember Tim turning pensive and saying, “Now I just need to use my powers for good.” It’s always stuck with me, especially in my work with children. I was always trying to get the kids I worked with to use their powers for good. But nowhere have I labored in such an endeavor as I have with Sonny. You may remember Sonny from a previous post. He’s come a long way since even then. Sonny struggles, yet has gone from being a child who could quite possibly be the most stubborn boy on the face of the planet, to a boy who follows directions and asks me to give him homework. His dogged and sometimes violent determination to hold to his purpose, rational or not, would definitely be a power that would serve him well if he used it for good. There was a time when I wasn’t certain we’d ever get a handle on it and he’d be able to function in the “real world”. So I observe him with amazement and wonder as we entered this school year. Sonny hasn’t had an all-out-blow-out tantrum at all this school year. He is reading better than anybody else in class and he’s the youngest. It’s as though everything we’ve taught him over the past 4 years has always been there floating around in his little brain and now it’s all connecting like puzzle pieces. I’m tickled at his progress and thankful.

In his heart he truly is a kind and giving spirit. He shares with his friends and desires to please, most of the time, anyway. The thing that has really caught my attention this year though is his pursuit to interact with his peers who are “normal”. Everyday since school started, he has gone out at lunch recess and found the group of boys that are playing football. My heart stops beating as I watch. They don’t invite him right in, but they don’t run him off either. He just stands among them waiting for the opportunity for the ball to come his way. One day he saw it and he took it. A kid kicked the ball pretty high into the air and Sonny got right under it and caught it . . . with his face! But he held on to that ball. I was about to run out and take care of him, as he was holding his eye with one hand and the ball in the other, but I quickly saw that he didn’t need my help. He stood up turn and looked to his friends and held the ball up in victory. They all came running and pat him on the back, excited for him. He has started to bring his own football and basketball. The little boy who used to cling to my leg goes to where the football or basketball game is and waits for his moment to join the game or even start one of his own.

What does all this have to do with Sonny using his powers for good? Persistence is one of Sonny's gifts. That same dogged determination that made him a powerhouse in a power-struggle with his teacher is serving him as he sets out to do the things he loves. It’s required a great amount of stubbornness on my part to work with him. It has served me well, yet I envy Sonny. I envy his innocence and his persistence in the big picture of his life. I grow weary of trying most of the time in my own life. I complain and fret about my weaknesses in frustration, whining, sometimes demanding God, “Why can’t You just fix me?” Or when I felt like I’ve been persistent enough prayer but don’t get the results I expected. Or when I have to work harder than people around me to accomplish something. I grow weary and stubbornly stop trying to find my place in the game where God wants me to be using my powers for good.

I pray hard for Sonny. I pray to be more like him, think like him. He has more working against him at 9 than I've ever had, but he doesn’t let his challenges hold him back. He doesn’t let circumstances or fear keep him from trying. He dreams of playing football and basketball someday. It doesn’t occur to him to quit. The most stubborn boy on the face of the planet is going to be a part of the game.