Journal of Sacred Work

…there is nothing but mystery in the world, how it hides behind the fabric of our poor, browbeat days, shining brightly, and we don’t even know it.         

– The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd

   It’s a persistent theme of these meditations – how mystery is always present if we will only pause long enough to notice her. We work with what we think we know: the path we take to work, the patterns of our co-workers, the rhythms of our evenings. And all the while, mystery shadows us as surely as the echo of our footsteps.
   What secrets lie in the hearts of the patients for whom we care? What are the stories circling beneath the aged faces of people who pass us in wheelchairs?
   We all have our stories. How we tell them and how we listen to others telling theirs is a powerful commentary on the quality of our lives…

   Lots of people, all of them women, have been encouraging me to read The Secret Life of Bees. I’m glad I finally did. Not only because of the story, but because of the way Sue Monk Kidd tells it. Lily and her friends and enemies are now part of my life. So are the outskirts of Tiburon, South Carolina in the mid-1960s. You can’t experience story-telling like this without living all the way inside the lives of these rich characters.
   This is not a book review. It’s a reflection on the power of good story telling. There are so many reasons for caregivers to read and so few caregivers who find the time to do it. Stories don’t just take us into the lives of characters, they take us away from our own lives as our imagination lifts us to another world allowing us to peek into it from the safety and comfort of our reading place.
   More important, reading a good story awakens our empathy with the trials and joys of each subject with whom we identify. This is an essential skill needed for all loving caregivers.

   I’ve often wondered why so many fine American writers, including Kidd herself, are southern, from William Faulkner (left), Eudora Welty and Carson McCullers to Walker Percy, Flannery O’Connor, Tennessee Williams and even America’s best selling author John Grisham.  My theory is that heat and humidity have something to do with it. For at least six months of the year, you’ve got to slow down in this part of country. It’s too difficult to move quickly. All that slowing down causes southerners to slow their speech as well as their pace and to notice their surroundings. It seems to create lots of unusual characters as well. These folks, and the colorful environment of the south, make for a rich stage for storytelling.
   Whether my theory is right or not, I’ve noticed a lot more of the world since I’ve moved to Tennessee. And what I see is rich with mystery.
   What are the mysteries you wonder about in your own life? How can these mysteries help you as a caregiver and healer? Do you find yourself sometimes becoming a carrier of light without knowing where it came from or why it traveled through you?
   Mystery can be a source of awe and respect and another reason for humility. Mystery says that science will never know all of her secrets. And that we may fear her, or be grateful for her life-enriching presence.

-Erie Chapman