Keeping Souls

Introduction
First the fall, and then the recovery from the fall, and both are the
mercy of God.
—Julian of Norwich
When I told people I was leaving my business of twenty-five
years to attend divinity school and pursue chaplaincy they
looked perplexed. Some even seemed worried. You are what?
I had built a respected art gallery and was very much at home.
Then came the unexpected. My business partner took me out
for lunch and told me that after twenty-five years he no longer
wanted to work with me. Three weeks later my live-in boyfriend
of four years walked out. I felt demolished.
Recovery from The Fall
Six months later I got sober. Sobriety opened up a new world. A
new journey was starting. Teresa of Avila’s experience resonated
with me: “There is no state of prayer, however sublime, in which
it is not necessary often to go back to the beginning.” 1 I started
a Zen meditation practice. I started attending Middle Collegiate
Church. I became a volunteer at a hospice facility. Things
changed. I started to understand a calling. Looking back in our
class reflection papers, I came to see that, as Parker J. Palmer
wrote, “Hardships are seen not as accidental but as integral to
the journey itself.” 2