Marbles

Marbles...what do they have to do with faith.  Well I can't for sure what they mean literally but for one family (ours) they have meant great encouragement.  Weighted glass with terrific designs moving together offer relaxation and rest for our sweet Katie b.  It's really amazing to watch her play with them.  They are gathered in a giant blue bin easily accessible to Katie.  She dumps them onto the carpet and begins running her fingers over them and through them.  This weekend I paid close attention to her.

Question:  what does one do with thousands of marbles rolling on the carpeted floor?  Katie begins to sort them by her "favorites," gently moving her hand over searching for those same 100.  She sorts them into piles.  Marbles are cold to the touch; she knows the flat ones from the strange shaped ones from the round ones.  She feels for any nicks and if she finds one like that she gives the damaged one to us.  Getting rid of the damaged one is too painful for her so she asks us to please make it go away.  See getting rid of the chipped marbles is my insistence; I know she could cut her hands, otherwise Katie would have a special box for those marbles.

Usually I just hear the sound of marbles, touching one another as Katie sorts.  She's usually on her tummy or her knees so that her limited vision can see every detail, always noticing something different with an ordinary, not-new marble.  Everyday is new.  She starts over like she's not known these marbles, same pattern, same treasure.

I am deeply touched.  In this world where I hear daily, "I am bored or if I don't have electronics I have nothing to do."  Or "Mrs. Erwin please let me check my phone; I need it."  These comments remind me of some great need for the external; the instant gratification of information by the swipe of the screen. The need for identity to see who is "vining or tweeting" about me.  Why can't we be satisfied?  I am as guilty as any.  I love my phone.  That's an odd use of the word love but I am pretty connected to my information and apps I need to check.  Hear the words:  need to check, lost without, bored if I can't...

Then I watch Katie.  Now hear me, this girl LOVES electronics.  But her comfort is in the marbles.  Her greatest treasure is finding a marble that need a home, a home with her collection.  I watch her carefully, never tiring of the same routine, feeling the marbles, sorting them...then the magic happens.

Katie begins to make designs out of the collaboration of marbles.  Moving them with the palm of her hand, gently forming into designs.  It sound odd but it's actually artistic.  It's pretty neat to observe.  If you make yourself available to Katie, she invites you to see her creations.  She asks you to feel certain aspects.  But if you tire of the redundancy of the process, you will miss the moment.

Living with disability is most unusual for the disabled.  Let us not forget; they desire friendship, companionship like all of us, often living in a self-centered world seeking nothing but personal gain.  But they see and experience parts of the world with a freshness.  A unique lens and unless you "stop and smell the roses"- move out of the rush, you will be blind to.  This experience of watching Katie, getting on hands-knees seeing a glimpse of how she sees her marbles is just that, a glimpse.

Marbles are just a thing...a game of long ago.  For Katie b, they are her treasure.  The collection that each one of them has a special mark or sound.  In the busyness of life, it's hard to lend an ear or squint my eyes or stoop to see closer...see those moments are scheduled, planned or written in the calendar.  They simply happen.  Thanks Katie b for moment of solitude.