There is something that occurs multiple times a day that makes me quite sad. It happens as often as I see my son walk up to the toilet to urinate. It’s when he covers his ears.
My child has autism. And, everyone that has autism has sensory processing disorder. Now, this manifests itself in different people in very different ways. Some people are more sensitive to touch and then there are others who don’t feel pain as much as they are supposed to. There are some people who are more sensitive to lights and movement and sound as well. This also causes there to be concentration issues among people with autism. This all has to do with people being either oversensitive or undersensitive to things within their environment.
Now, when my son approaches the toilet, he covers his ears. The sound of the water splashing is actually overwhelming to him. The same thing sometimes happens when he runs water into a sink to wash his hands. Many times he attempts to wash his hands with his shoulders covering his ears. And, in a public restroom, an air-dryer is nearly impossible to use.
Admittedly, at times, I am not thinking well and get frustrated and impatient by all of this. But, when I am in my right mind and thinking clearly I am just sad. It is heart-breaking to see him go through all of this. And, other than having his headphones on hand, there is not much I can do about it.
There is a feeling other than sadness that this does give to me. It is a longing for my eternal home.
It does cause me to long for a time when this will not be the case.
It causes me to long for that land that has been promised to God’s people.
It causes me to long for a land where there will be no sensory processing disorder.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” -Revelation 21:1-4 ESV
Because of the grace of God, because of the finished work of Christ, there is coming a day when sensory processing disorder will be no more. There is coming a day when my son’s senses will operate as they should. There is coming a day he will not be annoyed and avoiding a stimulus in the room. There is coming a day when the pain of his sensory processing disorder will be no more. It will be one of the former things that have passed away.
But until then, we work hard to help him. He works in therapy and works at home to be able to function in a world that is so unkind to him. But we do so as we look forward to our great and final home where we are with God and sensory processing disorder is no more.
R. Dwain Minor
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