Perhaps you know the old proverb: It is the last straw that breaks the camel’s back. It is an odd idea that with each bit of straw – each weighting approximately the same amount – one more creates the breaking point. The camel’s vulnerability and availability reached its limit; it is the cumulative weight of the load that is destructive.[1] So like us.
There is a calling forth just now to be both vulnerable and available especially for those who serve in the role of spiritual caregiver, spiritual nurturer, or spiritual leader. (And even if you are not called into an official role, as a seeker of Truth and Love, you are invited to be bear, love, edify, listen, and be kind to the “one another.”[2]) So caregivers, how are you doing? How heavy is your load? If the last straw has landed in your being, please find one who can listen, love, and heal you.
The longer I serve as a Spiritual Director, the deeper I experience the spirituality of healing in my being. Let me be clear, spiritual direction healing is more like the long slow healing process we have with a cast around a broken bone. We are told that when we speak truth to another person, the Bible says confess, we are healed. A Spiritual Director is certainly a safe person to whom you can speak truth to, and begin or continue to heal from your trauma, your wounds, your abuse, even illness.
May you find your way into healing place when that
last straw arrives.
[1] John O’Donohue, Eternal Echoes: Exploring our yearning to belong, (New York: HarperCollins, 1999), 154.
[2] In New Testament, the letters to early churches carry no less than 33 statements around how to be with one another