I started off thinking about a friend I haven’t seen for a long time and the qualities I particularly value in her …

Wise women friends are not always comfortable – I’m thinking of this particular friend of mine who specialises in dropping ice-cracking truths into the conversation at the most inconvenient moments.  They used to come when I least expected it and when I was not being ‘emotionally honest’.  This friend wasn’t fussy herself about telling a few practical lies but she insisted on honesty in relationships.  I cursed her more than once for the confrontations that resulted but over all I have blessed her.  She changed my life in a number of ways.

You could say that my friend’s habit of stating unwelcome truths was her ‘medicine’.  Wise women don’t need to be herbalists or hands-on healers to be medicine women, although many of them are.  Medicine can come in many forms: sometimes it can be as simple as a hug, a touch on the arm, a smile.

What do you think your special medicine is?