The Doorknob

The theme today was a continuation of Open to Grace, allowing the girls to open to something bigger than themselves. I went to the Bird Museum of Flight and Invention in Sandpoint over the weekend. The facination for me was that Dr. Bird as a young person opened to something bigger than himself--Dr. Bird who is 87 today, invented the oxygen system so that people no longer needed to use an iron lung in order to breathe. His invention revolutionized the distribution of oxygen in our country and saved many lives because he opened to something bigger than himself and never took no for an answer. It is a facinating facility and if you live close enough to drive there--I guarantee it will change your life.

We talked today of things that we take for granted, things that in these kids lives has always been there--but still remembering that not too long ago, the modern conveniences that the kids use like cell phones, the internet, Wii game systems were all an idea in someones head who opened to something bigger than himself and believed he could make a difference.

One of the items that struck me, I don't really know why, but Dr. Bird has what he called the Invention room, which is full of the first items of certain inventions--one of which is the doorknob--I got to see the very first doorknob that was invented--I explained to the girls think about how many door knobs in your life that you have touched or used---someone who was brave enough to open to something bigger than himself conceived and made the first one--and out of ridicule of his friends and family--he persevered and knew that the doorknob would reveolutionize the world. If the person who invented the doorknob did not believe in himself and his ability to open to something bigger we would all be using sticks to hold our doors shut.

The most moving rooms on this tour, was the medical invention room where Dr. Bird's oxygen machine, the CPAP machine and his baby Bird were on display--in a corner, was a board full of letters from children who wrote Dr. Bird and said thank you. One writing brought me to tears, it was from a little boy who wrote in his little boy handwriting--Dear Dr. Bird thank you for saving my life, I was born 1 pound and your incubator saved my life and I'm 11 years old today. WOW! I encouraged the girls to think of how many people and their ability to allow themselves to open to something bigger made a difference in their life. One girl said, "we really can do anything if we try." All it takes is the abilty to be open enough to receive a thought, an idea, a seed of hope, the ability to understand that even if someone tells us no, we are strong enough in our center to continue our quest for something bigger than ourselves. The girls faces, changed in that moment of understanding, and there in that room in jail, I saw them open to Grace in a way that I have never seen before--so Thank You Dr. Bird for your museum and your inspiration--today we cracked open the ability for the girls of JDC to believe in something bigger than themselves.