Keepers have a story of healing we would like to share with Many Voices readers. It is not a story of a therapist who could help, nor is it a story of being part of a family that helps us heal. But, it is a story of unconditional love and of great faith.

Our story begins about 2 years ago, when we met a minister named Marigene. The first time a Keeper went to see her, she told us that we were a beautiful diamond with many aspects. Deep within us, many Keepers responded to her words with our belief that Keepers are nothing more than a lump of coal.

Much has happened since that day and many things have changed. For a while, Keepers were trusting Marigene’s wisdom completely and we thought we were on our way to becoming a beautiful diamond. But the last few weeks have shown Keepers that this 54 year old body is still a lump of coal.

Yet, this lump of coal has hope now, hope that it never had before.

Reverend Marigene and her husband, Rev. Larry always take time for Keepers when we are in crisis. Larry has helped Keepers greatly although I doubt if he would understand that. The one thing Rev. Marigene always says to Keepers is to “remember the love.” For two years those words made little sense to Keepers. After all, the only love Keepers seem to really feel is the love between our significant other and Keepers.

These last few weeks have felt like the most painful ever for Keepers. In order to combat the negativity of what Keepers have been feeling, we have been meditating in Marigene’s statement of “remember the love.” When Keepers meditate, we envision all of us sitting around a campfire and sharing our thoughts and beliefs. For many weeks, “remember the love” has been our topic of conversation.

Keepers originally thought that she was talking about mutual love between Keepers and other people. But, that made no sense. We thought love with our children was mutual only to find it had huge conditions placed on it. Love with our significant other is definitely mutual but Keepers seem to only know that love when he is close by. Rev. Marigene says she loves Keepers but she says she loves everyone and Keepers can see so little to love about a lump of coal.

She says Rev. Larry loves us, yet, Keepers feel too stupid to even speak to him, although he is always very kind and polite. So, even as we look at love, we feel so lost because love is so hard for Keepers to comprehend.

Then, today, one of the Keepers finally got it and explained it to the rest of us. She wasn’t talking about mutual love or love coming in from outside. She was telling us that it doesn’t matter who loves Keepers because that love belongs to its owner and can only be felt by its owner. The only love Keepers can ever really remember is the love we feel for others because that’s the only love we can really own.

The truth is that Keepers have never really learned much about love. We have always been so busy trying to make the hurt go away that love didn’t enter the picture much-not until we met the people at the Center, where Rev. Marigene is the spiritual Director. Since then, the concept of love had confused Keepers greatly. It has frightened us, but mostly it has changed us.

After my conversation with Rev. Marigene today, the confusion has lessened for us. We understand now, that the love she is talking about us remembering is the love we feel for others. In all honesty, it’s a real shock to realize how much Keepers feel love for others. Now that we are hurting over our children, we need to remember and feel every bit of our love for each one of them. We need to remember the depths of our love for our significant other. We won’t ever be able to feel Marigene’s love for us so we may never believe it, but we always feel our love for her and that is what we need to remember and trust.

A couple of months ago, Keepers were spending days in ICU with a loved one as the patient. I tried to call Rev. Marigene when a code blue was called on our loved one. She was unavailable but I got her husband Rev. Larry. Without question and without having any idea of who Keepers were, he took the time to talk to me and to pray with me. He gave Keepers what we needed in a desperate situation.

Since then we have wondered if what he did was love or if we were just a job to be done to him. Since love is such a foreign concept to keepers, I think we will never know. But, I do know he made Keepers feel safe and strong which is what Keepers will always remember. I don’t know if remembering that phone call with Larry is remembering the love or just remembering the incident. I do know that the way he handled it changed Keepers for the better in a permanent way. This is not the only incident where this kind man has given Keepers what we needed when we needed it. Whatever he has given us, Keepers choose to see it as love we can learn from.

What these two amazing people have given us is the beginning of understanding love. Not only love for those close to us but love for all mankind-for our children but also for those who are strangers to us.

Rev. Marigene finds it difficult to understand living in multiplicity but she cares enough to try and see what Keepers are all about which has made Keepers feel worth something. Maybe she has given this lump of coal the beginnings of becoming a beautiful diamond by teaching us to remember the love, always.

Thank you Marigene and Larry.