"Not to be on to something is to be in despair." -Walker Percy, The Moviegoer
From 1997 to 2001 I regularly sought the support and counsel of what is referred to by some as a spiritual adviser. This gifted woman helped guide me through several difficult changes in my life. Through that period, the one thing she always told me was that I was, at heart, an artist. In 1997, I was temporarily out of a job. Not being "onto something," I began to experience despair.
What she said about my artistic temperament felt true to me. But I have never found the courage to live as the artist I supposedly am. The truth is, I’m afraid to live that life. I fear I’m not good enough, or that I would be unable to support my family. But there is also another, more positive reason that has nothing to do with fear. I love charity work. Through healthcare, you and have the chance to support a life ideal that may matters as much as anything…
"Live Love, not fear." This idea touches the most important subject I know. Of course, the idea of Love is ancient. But I feel glad to be one of the spokespeople for a Love that appears only randomly in the places where it is needed most – hospitals and charities.
I’ve spent lots of time trying to figure out how to create a model of thinking and living that would help advance loving care. There are so many self-help books that have "Seven" somewhere in the title. There are Seven Habits, Seven Steps, Seven Keys, Seven Ways to this or that. The experts say that seven has a certain magic to it. Perhaps they’re right. Still, I haven’t yet found anyone who can convincingly tell me their lives were meaningfully advanced by following seven of anything.
What I do know is that many people swear by the 12-step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Generally, many people seeking meaningful life change seem attracted to the structure of step programs.
I’ve been thinking about the work of loving care in terms of seven seeds. The hard practice of love seems so much to me like the planting, nurturing, protecting, and replanting, of a garden. The art of living love calls for relationship and partnership as well as seven-step structure.
Over these next few weeks, I hope the loving community that comments at this site will join with me in planting a new Garden of Loving Care. The first discipline of the work is that we will have to plant and grow this garden with only seven seeds.
I know each participant will experience at least one thing from this effort: new growth. For it is the teachers who always learn the most and we will be teaching each other. I look forward to reading your thoughts as we begin to grow this Garden of Loving Care.
-Erie Chapman
Journal of Sacred Work 
Leave a comment