Proverbs and Signs from My Son

I’ve written at times about my son, who has epilepsy and apraxia of speech.  He is a living lesson in grace.  Lately he has been very into reading the Bible — both an illustrated kid’s Bible, and a real one.  After a sermon last week in church on Job, he lugged my old NIV upstairs and started reading from Job 1!  I have no idea what he understands.

A few nights ago, he told me he wanted to show me how to read the Bible using sign language.  He learns sign at the school he attends.  I suggested we try the book of Proverbs.  I turned to Proverbs, and he flipped randomly to Proverbs 3.  He signed through these  words, which I have known from my youth and have recited many times:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight. (Prov. 3:5-6)

Again, I don’t know how much of this he “gets” cognitively.  He can say and sign the words, but for him, language just doesn’t work the way it does for most of us.  I think he understands quite a bit, but just how much is a mystery.  But then, “getting it cognitively” isn’t really what this text is all about.  Maybe it takes someone like my son to teach us the deep truths of texts like this one.