I once had the pleasure of teaching a beautiful little girl with long blond hair, sparkling eyes, and an irresistible giggle. She also happened to have Williams Syndrome, a chromosomal disability that made many things challenging for her. Although she was four years old, she could not yet talk and behaved much like an eighteen month old. This child, who appeared to be their size, but who acted like their younger siblings, confused my other Primary students.

We spent quite a lot of class time over the next few months talking about our special classmate, and soon, the children stopped thinking of her behavior as odd. It was just how she was and although some things, like talking and doing crafts were hard for her, they accepted that. After all, each of them had things that were hard to do too, and they all had different abilities and challenges. They learned that she was just as capable and special as they were, but in different ways. She had a talent for knowing when someone needed a hug. Another child had a talent for tying shoes, and a third had a talent for sports. It was just how they all were.

While my students learned many lessons throughout the year, the lessons they learned as they celebrated her small and large successes were more valuable than any other gospel lesson I taught.

The children learned that hard work pays off. We don’t all start the same place, but we can all work, and work, and work until we achieve our goals. If the steps to success are smaller and take longer for us than for others, that’s okay. It just makes the success that much more exciting. When my students learned to write their names, they congratulated each other. When our special classmate learned to write her name, the children stopped what they were doing, ran to her and exclaimed with joy. They knew that what had been an accomplishment for them had been just short of a miracle for their friend. They appreciated the extra work she had put into the achievement. And when one of them struggled much longer than the others to learn to ride a bicycle, the others said, “It’s okay. Just keep practicing, and you’ll learn. Everybody has hard things.” They had learned this from their classmate. At four, they were already wiser than many adults.

We all have gifts and we all have struggles. We’re all differently abled, and we can celebrate those differences as the things that make us who we are and help us to grow.