Losing Sight and Going On: Inspiration?

When people tell me they don’t know if they could handle losing their sight, I try to communicate to them that yes, they could. It is a matter of making choices. The choices we make determine the direction that life goes–and sometimes the choices we make shape important events. Case in point: Lewis Joseph Sherrill lost most of his sight while working as a professor of religious education in the 1930s. Society would probably have considered it acceptable if he quit.

He didn’t quit. He learned braille and hired students to read to him; and he kept working. He became the director of the organization that is now the Association of Theological Schools.

That’s not inspiration. That is life. That is doing what God called you to do. If you need more inspiration than that for your own life, please read St. Paul, where he tells the Church about all the things he has been through: beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonment, etc. Then go up against the hardest thing in your life and do it, because it matters.

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About Sarah Blake LaRose

Sarah Blake LaRose has ten years of experience as an adjunct professor of biblical languages and nearly two decades of experience as a braille transcriber specializing in ancient languages. She has served in vocal arts ministry for over two decades and is also experienced in providing pastoral care for people with disabilities. She is currently working as an independent scholar concerning theology and disability.

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