Celebrating 30,000 Views and Shelly Corbin!

Sharing the Stories...Asking the Questions

For the last several weeks Bill  and I have been working on our documentary, Insights Into Aging Parents and Loss.  Even though it has been a bit emotional for us, telling the stories of the aging process of each parent has been enlightening for our own journey in aging.

420 minutes, 9 days, 10 years and a lifetime have been the amounts of time allotted for Bill and I to prepare for the aging of each parent.  Each experience had its own trail of emotions.  As we have looked back over the journeys, the forks in the road, the markers of lessons learned, and the view from the end of the path, we have built perspectives on aging.  As a good friend shared, we are the youth of the aging population, which basically means we will be there before we know it.

In the process of sharing the stories, two truths have stood out to me.  First of all, the occurrence of acquired disabilities among the aging.  In your youth it is easy to set yourself among the able-bodied, but there is no way to predict what may come your way during the aging process:  hearing loss, visual impairment, mobility challenges and a lack of cognitive acuity to name a few.  Secondly, with any of those challenges, you may find yourself in the margins.

Grace Without Margins among the elderly means continuing to make your church building a welcoming and accessible home.  It means including the elderly in conversations, even if you have to repeat yourself a few times.  It means sitting and listening to the wisdom and faith of an elderly person with the same enthusiasm of listening to a peer.  And it means putting yourself on that same journey and thinking about how you would want to be included.

In the book, Improving With Age, Stuart and Jill Broscoe share the verse, Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ( II Corinthians 4:16)  The attitude of being renewed day by day starts in your 50's, the youth of the aging population, or in other words, "the young old."  As we start this journey we have to ask ourselves if we are focusing on wasting away or being renewed day by day?

Job's Rule #10: Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

All of Steve Job's Rules For Success have made me think, but #10 brings me the most JOY!

I love being hungry!  Hungry to do more, learn more, change more, influence more, read more, experience more, erase the margins more.  I love celebrating the changes I have seen in my lifetime, but I don't want to ever stop hungering for more.  We have so many people in the margins and no one belongs there. Are you hungry?  Then give a banquet!

But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.  Luke 14: 13,14 (NIV)

Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame...Go out to the roads, and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.  Luke 14:21,23 (NIV)

As for foolish, I have been incredibly foolish the last couple of years and I have loved every minute of it!  Will you be foolish with me?  When you get up tomorrow morning, let go of the reigns and trust God to guide you.  Be "foolish" in the world's eyes and invite the people in the margins into your churches, your homes and your heart.  Love them with the love that Christ has for you.

"Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish"

A Five Question Survey

30,000  Visitors 

We are getting close to our 30,000th visitor!   Can you help us reach our goal by filling out our survey?  It will only take a minute since there are only five questions.  What we will learn from it is invaluable!

We would love to have a variety of responses, whether you are involved in disability ministry or not.  Thank you for your help!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HWFSWJY

Job's Rule #9: Marketing Is About Values

     This is my ninth post on Steve Job's Rules For Success.  I wouldn't say all of our values are the same, but he has made me think about what I do value.  He has challenged some of my perspectives and caused me to live an unlimited life, have passion, and build a great team.

     If you want to know what we value at Grace Without Margins, just look in the eyes of the children and the adults they have become.  We are grateful for all of the people that have shared life with us over the last 20 years.

    

Our lives will never be the same because of the incredible children we have met along the way.  Not only have we loved them unconditionally, but they have loved us unconditionally as well.  They accepted our flaws, inadequacies and feeble attempts to teach them something, while the whole time they were teaching us.                                                                                                                                 
-Grace Without Margins

                      

“When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!” ― Ted Grant                                                                              

Rule #8: Building Around "Customers"

"Building Around Customers," Steve Job's 8th rule for success.  For Grace Without Margins, I prefer to think of it as "Building Around People."

At Grace Without Margins our desire is to provide as many tools as possible to support people affected by disability, along with their families, churches, and communities.

We are nearing our 30,000th visitor on our blog and we want to celebrate each of you by learning how we can serve you better!  Simply fill out our survey with your contact information.

On the day we have our 30,000th visit on our blog, we will draw the name of our winner.  The winner will be able to take each of our courses, one time with no charge, receive a copy of Grace Without Margins, as well as ministry support via phone or FaceTime (over a $200 value).  

The survey is a quick one so if you could just take a moment, we would appreciate it!  We look forward to supporting and serving you better.

 Survey Link:  Grace Without Margins Survey

Blessings,
Deana

Radio Interview with Jennifer Fulwiler

Have you visited out website lately?  We have added a variety of media files and resource information.  On our website you can access our recent radio broadcast on the Jennifer Fulwiler Show on SiriusXM Satellite Radio, Channel 129.  It was a new experience for me but I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  Jennifer and the Catholic Channel graciously agreed that I could share our conversation about the church and ways for the church to welcome and support individuals and families.  I would love for you to share in our conversation.

Our website is www.gracewithoutmargins.com

Blessings,
Deana

TheCatholicChannel.org