One of the Desert Fathers tells the story of a Rabbi who was feeling a deep depression. According to the story, the Rabbi was perplexed as to why he was feeling so lost, confused, bewildered and overwhelmed.  The rabbi consulted older, wiser rabbis to find an answer, but they offered little help. Still feeling very low, the rabbi spent a long period of time in prayer asking God for an answer or for at least a sign as to what the problem was. Shortly after his time of prayer ended, the rabbi was standing in the doorway of his little house when a shoe cobbler came down the road pushing his cart with his tools and materials on it. Now when the cobbler came up to the rabbi's house and saw the rabbi himself standing in the doorway, he shouted in a loud voice, "Do you have anything that needs mending?"  The rabbi felt it was as if the voice of God was falling from the heavens.  He suddenly saw clearly just what the problem was - his life needed mending because God was not at the center of his life.

  The Desert Father who related that story, used to tell it to people who would come to him seeking answers to life's difficulties.  Over the years, as she told it more an more,  and as he grew tired of repeating it, the story got shorter and shorter until the holy man stopped telling it and just asked a simple question -"What needs mending?" "Answer that question," he would say, "and you have the source of most difficulties in life."

  So, as you look at your life right now, "What needs mending?"