An Ode to My Friend & Prayer for Your Child

He kinda looked like this child, but with darker hair and older. But something in the posture is the same.

I’ve loved autistic children since I was 7 years old. I was around 7 when I was playing with a little boy at a Girl Scouts family outing. He didn’t speak and moved in a way that other kids didn’t, but his eyes sparkled and he loved to play. 

And he wanted to play with me. That wasn't something that happened every day. I could be a bit weird and whiny at times.

I can still remember the joy and innocence that radiated off of him like a thousand suns as we played. He was so different from the kids at school, many of whom felt like threats to me as they tended to quite quickly identify a difference in me and variety of ways.

Playing with my little friend, whose teeth I can still see in his wide unabashed grin, was so much fun. He didn't talk, he just made happy sounds when he really loving our game, as simple as it was.

My heart was swooning at the acceptance, the fun, his happy sounds, wide smile, dancing eyes, and for one of the very first times clicking with someone in a way where I didn't have to wonder if I was doing friendship properly.

I remember clearly someone saying that he is autistic and thinking, “Wow. Everyone should be autistic.” 

To me it made sense: he was so sweet and easy to play with. He didn’t say say much, but I understood him. Truth he told, I didn’t like talking either. Everyone should be exactly like him.

He smiled so joyfully and I didn’t have a word for what came off of him in huge waves but now I know it was love. He loved people. More people should love people like him.

Little did I know that we more in common than I knew. Even though we were different genders and races, one day I'd get diagnosis’ that made us much more alike than different. 

Seven year old me thought it was autism that made my little friend so special. But now I know it wasn’t. He was born with a very special gift that the struggles he had could not hide or take away. 

Since I was a child, I could feel how much love a person had. People carry varying levels of love.

Everyone has some love, even if it’s only for inanimate objects like cars or a gadgets or a place. 

The love adults carry is the most complicated. It's often mixed with things. Jealousy, fear, anger, even hatred.

Most people walk around with their love covered a bit. Like a white chiffon fabric over a lamp. Some people have more layers than others. Some have whole thick blankets, like quilts made out of patches of experiences, over it.

But this boy all those years ago. He carried a love so profound and uncovered, just shining, blazing, that it's not just etched in my memory, but in my being. I can still feel it and see it in his eyes. The only other time I felt a love of that purity is first time I encountered Jesus.

I’ve seen that love in the eyes of many autistic people, adults and kids. And it makes me wonder what they would be like without the struggles. If that love could just shine and speak without the hardships.

This world isn’t always safe to radiate that type of love in. But it needs it so desperately. Seven year old me wanted everyone to be autistic but what I meant was I wanted everyone to have the pure, life-changing love my friend carried like a living sun.

That’s one of the reasons I wrote this book about a boy who struggles the way I did, and still do at times (still hate most foods deep down). The way my friend did.

In David’s Diary, David and his best friend Nate, never have any labels, but you can see the traits of ADHD and autism. You see David’s impulsivity and the trouble it lands him in, his explosive emotions and the fallout, but you also see his creativity, his boldness, his intense love for his friends. 

Nate is quiet, deep waters, highly observant and deeply kind. But you see his sensory struggles with t-shirts tags, need to get a sense of comfort through things staying the same, and a tendency to want to “sit this one out" when something could be fun but can't be controlled.

But, that’s not where the story ends because with them because it's not where it ended with me.

When Jesus gave me my voice back, all I had to do was say yes and believe. I knew that He loves us different kids and wants to help all of us.

So I made David and Nate overcomers. 

You see Nate decide to get his hands dirty (no small feat) and participate in a messy obstacle course. Yes, he runs ti the showers after, but he does it and has fun. 

You see David keep that God-given emotional intensity, but learn to paint with all of those colors of his heart, not get lost in the chaos of them. 

That’s what Jesus did for me. The Shepherd doesn’t see us the way the world does. He sees the love He put there and helps us pull off every single barrier to it radiating and shining purely. 

I prayed for my little friend this morning. That Jesus would help him shine, keep shining, wherever he is.

That anything that gets in the way of him enjoying this life and who he is would evaporate leaving only that pure treasure within him. I prayed that he has people around him that protect him, help him, and most importantly, are a friend to him as he was to me.

I prayed that He’d be able to be fully who God made him to be. Because I know the world is infinitely better with him here. 

I wrote a prayer that if you're looking for the words to pray for your child today you can pray, too.

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for making my child. I see the love and gifts that You've placed inside of them. I pray that You'd help them shine. I pray that my child will be exactly who You made them to be. I pray that they'll get to enjoy being who You made them to be, too.

I pray that you would send my child true friends with a heart for them. And that they'll have a deep, forever friendship with You because You're very loving.

I pray that anything at all getting in the way, any struggle, any hardship or fear, anything that you didn't place on my child would go now. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen

Now believe.

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Diary of a Wimpy Kid Meets Dog Man Meets Faith, Fun, & Laughs

David's Diary is a brand new chapter book series by Bunmi Laditan full of everyday adventure. Featuring neurodivergent characters who GROW and figure out that with God, all things are possible.

Read Chapter One of Book One

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