Bonnie St. John: Letting Go of DeFeet

author of LIVE YOUR JOY, Olympic Ski Medalist, amputee, Rhodes Scholar, and all-around inspiration!

Bonnie St. John: Letting Go of DeFeet

There were hardly any kids at the Shriners Hospital today… The administrative assistant I contacted had tried to discourage me from coming because the hospital would be so empty. But I went anyway, because I was in town. I wore my Olympic medals and brought souvenir postcards to sign for the patients who were there. So I visited a few kids and talked. Then we met this little girl with her mother in the hallway. Neither spoke English. Through the translator I shared the story of my amputated leg and being at Shriners for my surgeries when I was a kid. Then the girl lifted up her pants leg to show her foot was five inches off the ground with a brace like mine was. It turns out she had the same problem, but refused to let them cut her foot off. We talked a bit more.
Then I visited some other kids.
I saw her again and asked “is getting a leg like mine an option?” She shook her head quickly as if to say “no way”
“Do you have any questions about it?” I asked through the interpreter.
She shook her head faster. I wasn’t getting through at all.
So I put down my purse, took off my high heels, adjusted my ankle to flat and ran across the room and back as fast as I could. Then I took out my jump rope and jumped. I didn’t see her face while I was running, but they told me they saw the light in her eyes go on! A man who had seen her when she first came in–shy and withdrawn–started crying. Words didn’t get through to her, but action speaks louder than words. If she was the only kid in the hospital that day, I think it was worth going.

When I spoke at a church later that day I told the story of the little girl…and I said, “Here she is in the middle of free, state of the art medical care turning down the treatment she needs–and a powerful new leg–because she wants to keep a foot that doesn’t work!”
“How often are we like that with God? God has everything prepared for us but we are like a small child from a foreign country who doesn’t understand the big picture. What is the foot you are holding onto in your life that is blocking your blessings? Is it a job you need to move on from? Is it a relationship that you need to let go of? A degree you are afraid to get? What are you holding onto?”