Jia’s contentment touched everyone. As we said “good-bye” to our guests, I thought about the six children, two of my own, three of my friends, and Jia (not her real name) another friend’s child that had tagged along.

While anticipating the arrival of our guests, our boys were bursting with excitement. However, their initial enthusiasm soon waned; the playtime didn’t go as expected.

After our guests arrived, the children ran off to play. Within a few moments, however, the chorus of cheerful voices faded. And only the discord of children disagreeing could be heard. The arguing stopped for a brief period when they finally settled on a game. But a few minutes later, they started quarreling again.

Throughout the afternoon, the children constantly interrupted the conversation between the other mother and me. They complained, whined, and bickered. All of them that is—but Jia.

At first glance, Jia obviously looked different. From birth, she had had webbed fingers and webbed toes. After being abandoned by her birth mother, she was adopted. Following her adoption, Jia had several surgeries to separate her fingers and toes. But even after the surgeries, she still had little stubby fingers and little stubby toes.

Jia also had clubbed feet, making it difficult for her to run and keep up with the other children. But it didn’t keep her from trying. And her physical limitations certainly didn’t affect her attitude; Jia possessed an unusual contentment.

At the end of the afternoon after saying “good-bye” to our guests, I asked our boys if they enjoyed their playtime. They both answered, “Not really.” Then one of them added, “Only Jia played cheerfully.”

Radiating Beauty

I responded, “Why do you think Jia was so happy?” The boys mentioned several possibilities from her background to her physical challenges. But in the end, we concluded that Jia had learned one of the deep secrets of life: contentment despite life’s difficult obstacles.