Over the years I have discovered that several people in my immediate and extended family suffer from some form of reading or writing dyslexia. What is Dyslexia? Well “Dys” means “difficulty” and “lexia” means “words”.
I recently read that dyslexia is a disorder that affects millions of people all over the world. It is one type of specific learning disability that affects a person's ability to read, write and spell. According to recent research1 in 5 people may have difficulties with their reading, writing and spelling.
I also found that dyslexia is biological in origin and tends to run in families, but that environmental factors may also contribute to it. The interesting thing is that dyslexia affects all kinds of people regardless of intelligence, race or even social class (Just look at the King of Sweden).
Fortunately the effects of dyslexia can largely be overcome by skilled specialist teaching, the use of compensatory strategies and by diagnosing the problem at a very early stage. The earlier the intervention the better the outcome for the individual. Unfortunately not many countries in the world have come so far as we have in Sweden at diagnosing the problem and providing the necessary help and support to help the child. Many children grow up believing they are simply stupid.
In my family individuals tend to change the order of words when writing. To us this might seem very strange and totally wrong but according to research at Cambridge University, it doesn’t matter in what order the letters in a word are, the only important thing is that the first and last letter be in the right place. The rest can be a total mess and you can still read it without a problem. This is because the human mind does not read every letter by itself, but the word as a whole.
If you don’t believe what the experts are saying try reading the sentence below. Does it make sense?
Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Pretty amazing stuff! I love this illustration of how the mind works to put words together and create meaning. It goes against everything we were taught in primary and secondary school and seriously questions the need to be one hundred percent grammatically correct to be understood! It’s the perfect example that confirms what you see is not always what you get.
Here’s a reminder to those of us who think we have it all together: God is searching our hearts. He doesn’t care about our outward appearances. In fact, I have found that many of us have gotten so good at hiding who we really are that even we don’t recognize our true selves. Even as Christians we have gotten into the habit of putting masks on from time to time, fearing that if other people really knew who we were that they would reject, condemn, or even cast us aside.
Today, if you are hiding behind a mask, afraid to reveal who you really are, allow God to remove the layers of fear, pain, and deception in order to find your true self – the one that was made in the very image of God.
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
DIG DEEPER:
1. Is there anyone you have lately judged by outward appearances? If so, what can you do to make things right?
2. If you are preventing people from getting to know the real you, ask God to give you the courage to remove the “mask” you wear.