"No wise person ever wanted to be younger." -Native American Aphorism

   When one particular college student applied to medical school he knew that his chances were slim. His grades were adequate but not exceptional.   

   When the admissions committee reviewed his recommendations, they came across one with a key phrase. "This student does not have the best grades, but he has a servant's heart."

   Based on these two words, the student was admitted. Subsequently, he graduated, did his residency and became a great and loving caregiver.

   The Servant's Heart wants nothing. It is not grounded in desire. It does not "try." It will serve because it can only serve, not because it "wants" to.

   This notion confounds the world.  Only the spirit understands.

   A woman touched the hem of Jesus' garment and was healed. Jesus did not "try" to heal her. His goodness could only heal.

   The Servant's Heart is the home of wisdom. When we lie in deep need, it is the caregiver with a Servant's Heart who we want. 

   Some people seem to be born with a Servant's Heart. Fortunatetly, this heart for service lives within all of us. It flowers when nurtured by Love.

   Great healing organizations build cultures of loving care by recruiting for Servant's Hearts. These same organizations recognize and reward those loving care. They know this quality if one of the key ingredients of healing.

   "No wise person wants to be younger." No person who has found the Servant's Heart within them ever wants to go back to patient encounters as mere transactions. 

   The hardest truth about becoming wise is the same truth about becoming old – wisdom comes only after we have suffered through a period when we didn't have it.

   Dr. Bernie Segal told me once that no one changes without a traumatic event – without suffering. Perhaps, whether old or young, you have suffered enough living without a Servant's Heart. Perhaps, now, you are ready to turn open your spirit to the thriving energy of a service that wants nothing because it can, by its nature, only serve.

   The Golden Thread of the Healing Tradition. Respect for Sacred Encounters as integral to Sacred Work. Building a culture made up of caregivers with a Servant's Heart.

   These are the ways organizations go from body repair shops to places that live the holiness of Radical Loving Care.

-Erie Chapman