When the Circus came to Town
by Sue
Back in 1990, our son Matthew, who has special needs, was about to become a teenager. (Uh, oh. Watch out!) We thought that we would like to do something special for his special birthday instead of the usual party and food and we had noticed that the circus was in town. It had actually set up about two miles from where we lived on a large field where often a car boot sale took place. So, we decided we would give that a go. That might be a good idea.
I don’t recall that we had ever taken any of the children along to the circus before. Every family trip or event we ever planned always had to be thought about with Matthew in mind. If he was likely to get upset by what we were going to do – we simply didn’t do it. If he was likely to cause a fuss - we wouldn’t go.
Our other two children did sacrifice a lot in the early years because what was the point of going somewhere or do something that ended up stressful for everyone? Bless them, they were very understanding of the whole family situation and never complained.
But Matt’s birthdays (and Christmas) were always a difficult time for us. We always tried to think of something we could get Matt, that would actually hold his attention for more than three seconds. He was simply not interested in the things that most children were interested in so it was very difficult. He enjoyed walks in the country, sitting in the garden, and eating the hottest and spiciest curry you could possibly imagine, in local Indian or Chinese restaurants.
I recall on one of his birthdays we all walked into the best toy shop in the area (no longer there sadly) called Wings and Wheels. As you might imagine, the shop had everything that flew and everything that rolled along that a child could wish for or dream of.
Oh, and what a surprise we had! Matthew walked straight up to a bright red scooter and climbed on board.
“We’ll take it,” Malc said to the shop assistant. It really didn’t matter how much it cost. Matthew liked it. How excited we all were to get home and see Matthew ride his new scooter.
It was a very short-lived excitement. Malc took Matt onto the driveway next to the house with the scooter, guided him to put on foot on the platform so that he could start. Bump! He sat down on the little padded seat over the back wheel and wouldn’t budge. Malc tried another tack – this time putting both of Matt’s feet on the platform and aiming to wheel him along by holding his hands over Matthew’s on the handlebars.
Forget it. Both feet came straight off – he wasn’t letting that thing carry him anywhere! He absolutely hated it and there was no way we could encourage him to try again. He never did get on the scooter again and the other two children ended up playing on it. But it was worth a try.
So here we were on Matt’s 13th birthday, taking the chance that he might enjoy the circus, and off we all went – a first for all the children.
We arrived at the circus and entered the big top very excited and made our way to our seats. Pretty good seats too, quite near to the front. (Warning - never get circus seats at the front – unless you want to get wet!)
So, we sat and we waited for the show to start. Matt was very content to sit and look around inside that great big space. He looked up and he looked around at the audience and seemed to be taking it all in. It was great - he seemed to be enjoying every minute, watching the animal acts, acrobats – he particularly liked watching the performers on the trapeze swinging backward and forward right up in the heights of the big top. He even liked the clowns, and he laughed and smiled the whole way through the show - we all did!
Well, that turned out to be a great success and we all were so pleased that Matt had enjoyed his birthday. Happy days!
The following year the circus came to town again. So, remembering how much Matthew enjoyed it the previous year, we obviously went straight out and got tickets for us all to go again.
We arrived on the night, we found our seats, we sat down…. and he hated it! It was the same circus, and pretty much the same acts as the previous year, but we could only imagine, as Matt has no speech, in his own way, he was trying to say “We did all this last year – why have we come here again?” Well, either way - he made a real fuss and we had to leave early as he was such a distraction to everyone else.
We got it wrong. We have learned now, that it is so easy to try and repeat something that worked once, but there are no guarantees that it will work again. Some things are just for that moment – just for that season.
The Bible speaks a lot about seasons.
A time for every activity under heaven, for everything that happens in this world happens according to God’s plan and timing, and not ours.
Maybe we made a wrong judgment in that instance - fortunately, with no real harm done. But what a comfort it is to know that ultimately, “we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,” (Romans 8:28a)
Do you know for sure that your life is in the safe hands of God? You can.