2008 was not a great year for me. Everyone had told me that Peter would be fine when he started school and he wasn't (see here). By mid-year I was baffled and exhausted and ended up at a holistic chiropractor. For 20 minutes a week I was able to spill out all my problems while Rebecca (the chiropractor) stamped me with a small hammer. Somedays she would tell me I had a blockage. She'd bring out a chart and say things like "the problem is in your liver, it has something to do with your mother at about age 3. Can you think of anything that happened between you and your mother when you were 3?" I'd think of something and then she'd hammer a bit more and tell me the blockage was gone! I wasn't convinced but I came out of each session feeling amazing and they got me through 2008!
My reason (excuse) for telling this story is that it was Rebecca who recommended I read the book Eat, Pray, Love. This book proved to be a dot (a seemingly isolated event in my life) that would later join to another dot. In 2010 someone mentioned a charity showing of the movie Eat, Pray, Love. Allan was away and I wanted to see the movie so I went along. It was the first I'd heard of the charity Young Love Foundation (now Raise) but it put me on their mailing list.
Raise provides mentors for teenage mothers and women under 23 who are pregnant. They also train volunteer mentors to work with high school students who are experiencing problems. Just before Christmas an email arrived with the subject "Is this your year to become a mentor?" and I thought "Yes, I think it might be!" I talked to Allan about it and I've just posted the application. I'm hoping to start my 4 days of training in February. I'm also hoping that the Introduction to Pastoral Counselling unit I did last year as part of my Theology course turns out to be a dot that feeds nicely into this new dot!
Congratulations, Tonia. Maybe life is a series of dots......
ReplyDeleteI'm not really sure if life has a strong pattern (as opposed to being random and purely coincidental) or not but it's events like this that gives me some sense of reasurance that I'm 'on the right track', and that if God has a plan for me, I'm sort of following it. The day I enrolled on my PhD, I visited Lancaster Cathedral and unknowingly arrived 30 minutes before the relics of St. Therese de Lisieux (Sep 28 2009). Whenever I'm having doubts about my work (particularly as it takes up so much time and is so 'secular') it comforts me to think that either 1) I'm on the right track and for whatever reason unknown, God approves of what I'm doing or 2) perhaps it was just to let me know that when times get tough - I should look to St Therese for support and inspiration. Good luck with the mentoring - it does sound like the right opportunity arriving at the right time. L x
ReplyDeleteYou have a lot of wisdom and experience to share Tonia...I hope the selectors see that:)
ReplyDeleteJust read the post on Peter and love the chirping birds analogy!
Thanks x
DeleteGreat work well done! I often think of the poet Christina Rossetti who volunteered at the Magdalene shelters in Highgate for over ten years.
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