Are You A Mender?

I just finished reading Martha Beck’s new book” Finding Your Way in A Wild New World”. Classic Beck, she has us following her to Londolozi a very special place in South Africa where seemingly inexplicable things happen; rhinos appear when wayfinders drop into wordlessness (disengaging from our busy minds and letting ourselves relax and then let go of the need to find them).

You and I can do this, even bend spoons like Uri Geller, if we follow her magical methods. She says if you’ve gone through hell and back like many with a chronic illness have then you are likely a mender; someone who is extraordinarily capable of healing others through your wisdom.

It makes great sense. Those who have healed themselves have much to teach us. And you are likely one of them. I have a friend who has gone through untold childhood traumas and illness. She is a mender of amazing proportions. She not only has a gorgeous voice and the ability for others to get in touch with theirs, she volunteers as a chaplain with those who can barely speak. She has a gift of being able to deeply hear others pain or intuit it and then help them rise above it through heart connection and blessings created just for them.

The shortest poem I ever wrote was, “The deeper the pain, the closer we get to God’s light”. There is something to be said for those of us who have gone through pain, illness, and trauma and what we are able to offer others if we can just get outside of that pain.

A dear friend recently sent me this quote,

“A sacred illness is one that educates us and alters us from the inside out, provides experiences and therefore knowledge that we could not possibly achieve in any other way”.  Deena Metzger

Are you on the mender’s path, seeking the light through darkness to help others? Take a look inside. I bet you are.