Front Row Seat

     

 

 

Some of you have wondered what I have been studying the past two years since I completed the certification process to be a spiritual director through Sustainable Faith. I typically encounter blank looks when I say I am a spiritual director.  Or the comment, “You mean you are a counselor?”  I am not a counselor. It is not mentoring or coaching. Let me describe what I am privileged to offer to fellow travelers on this journey called Life.

As a spiritual director I extend to people hospitality as I humbly listen to their stories with open heart and without judgment. I honor what a person brings to direction with my attention and respect. I notice their choice of words, their emotions (especially what brings the tears), their responses to life and God, and their definition and experience of God. Using Spirit prompted questions and observations, I invite individuals to look inward to name their longings, distress and fears or their joys, consolations and blessings. As they identify what is in their heart, they can respond to God. Contrary to what spiritual direction implies, I do not direct people’s lives.  You might say I “direct” a person’s attention towards God, recognizing that God is the director of each of our lives. In the hour that I meet with an individual, it is a conversation, or prayer, between three; God, the individual, and me. My responsibility is to help the person before me pay attention to their relationship with God. My relationship with God is the second most important relationship in that hour and the relationship between me and the client is the third most important relationship.

A simple definition of spiritual direction by William A Barry and William J Connelly is, “Spiritual direction proposes to help people relate personally to God, to let God relate personally to them, and to enable them to live out the consequence of that relationship.”

In spiritual direction, a person shows up in all realness and ugliness to find a sacred, safe space filled with grace. It is necessary that they bring who they are and what needs to come out. They wrestle with their disillusionment, their anger with God, their stagnant and no longer satisfying faith, their vocation, questions, relationships and disappointments. As the individual examines the raw materials of their life, they begin to recognize life’s trials are a launching pad to a more intimate relationship with Beloved Trinity. They discover that they are normal and what they are experiencing is a normal part of the journey as a Christ follower.

For me, having a front row seat to the movement of God in a person’s life is being granted the privilege of viewing miracles of transformation every time we meet. Since I embarked on this vocational change, my own heart continues to be transformed and an expanse of grace has opened for me that I never before experienced. My God has gotten bigger, my questions more numerous, and my peace with the mystery of God is deeper. God reveals and God keeps some things hidden.  That is the mystery of God. Even with unanswered questions, my experience of God reveals the character of God. I rest in the goodness and extravagant love of God. I look to the cross and I see….Love.

If receiving spiritual direction sounds like something you or a loved one might need, I would welcome the opportunity to talk to you more about it. The nature of direction lends itself best to seeing someone you do not know. If you know me, I would refer you to one of my spiritual director peers. If you are a stranger to me, I would count it a privilege to listen to your story. I meet with clients at Kavanna House, a retreat center in York, at an office in my church, New Life Fellowship, Ephrata, PA or over Skype. The first session is complimentary.