Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Post-it Notes from the Creator

I hesitated to share this here, because it feels way too personal. But one of my circle of wise council says that it needs to be shared..so...

This past weekend I spent at a woman's retreat at a campsite west of Nashville. Beautiful blue October skies, turning foliage, warm sunshine and nippy evenings, with comfortable rooms and great food. A hundred and a half beautiful women, each on our own spiritual journey, but sharing very similar paths. A wonderful 'vacation'... but the real gift of the weekend came in the form of a post-it note from the Creator

(Yes, my God gives me post-it notes as reminders!)

Saturday morning there was a workshop called "Blisters to Blessings"... how the painful events of our lives can turn into the greatest of blessings. Many beautiful women shared how their pain had turned into their blessings, and I felt called to share the story of the birth of Nature's Gift. How in 1994 I was told I was totally disabled, and would never work again...and how that terrible painful frightening time held in it the seeds of the life I had today, because it gave me time to read and learn and study my two passions - the healing power of the essential oils and online communication. The World Wide Web was new to me, and I had to learn how to design my own page. And then a friend commented on one of my blends..."this is wonderful, you need to sell it!" and somehow Nature's Gift was born.

I sometimes feel uncomfortable sharing that tale for fear it will come across as "how wonderful I am"... it's not about that. It's about the fact it is not humanly possible to get from where I was to where we are now. And the fact that I always wanted to be a "healer" and that has not been my gift - but because of what we do here, we get to participate in the healing journeys of thousands of people.

At any rate, I shared my "blisters to blessings" story, and several women said, afterwards, that it gave them hope. (Of course throughout the rest of the weekend, others kept coming up to me and asking "do you have something that will help with ____?" and I shared what I knew, but that's a different story.) As it worked out, a fair amount of the time this weekend was spent talking about what we do here. Which was just fine... it's my favorite subject!

But it still made me a bit uncomfortable to be talking so often about the oils and their healing power on what was designed to be a spiritual weekend.

The true gift, though, came Sunday morning. During the closing ceremony there is an exercise done with affirmations. Perhaps 40 of us in a group, and each of us drew a sealed slip of paper, the affirmation we would be working with, and sharing throughout the morning.

I opened my sealed piece of paper and felt my eyes fill with tears.

"You are doing God's Work"

6 comments:

2 Virgos Designs said...

I too am severely disabled but felt the great need to be doing something creative with my time so I startedmaking soaps. I maybe disabled but I am not through! Thanks for sharing your story!

Anonymous said...

Your gift is healing, my dear. :)
Love and increased wisdom and healing power to you....
Radonna Grace Butler

wolfsaromatics said...

At times I wish I had stories like yours / this. I never had the moment in time when something happened that led me down one path or changed my life; I never had that WOW time. When asked how I get into health and using Aromatherapy all I can say is, one day I just found this book. Some tell me how “lucky” I am to have it “handed to me”. I do have the love for all that Aromatherapy can do, for I have seen it work, but at times I wish I had that moment like some of you have had.

Marge said...

Be careful what you ask for! ;)

You have to remember that all of this is a result of the lowest period of my life, when I thought my life was over, and I wouldn't be able to survive.

The reason I share the story is because it does show the blessings that can come after the painful part.

(And you also have to remember that none of us ever thought that Nature's Gift would ever show a profit. For three years I ran it on credit cards, and I don't know who was more shocked the first year it showed a profit, my accountant, or me!)

So there really wasn't an "oh wow" moment...it just...was the path that I was placed on. The "oh wow" moment came with that little sealed affirmation. Which was such a total gift.

Anonymous said...

Marge, Thank you for your story. I need badly to hear it right now. I'm in the middle of a very stressful situation that is just going on and on. Your wonderful oils are one of the many supports I am relying on to get through. But a reminder of the spiritual gifts that are surely at the center of anguish is something I need even more right now. I know this, but I'm having a hard time holding onto it. Thanks for the reminder. Heather

Anonymous said...

Dear Marge,
I have always felt that it was God's Providence that led me to you--your oils have made a vital difference in my life, and you, yourself, are my spiritual friend, for we have never met. Thank you for sharing your gift with all of us!
Your Gloucester friend,
Laura