WHAT IS SPIRITUAL DIRECTION?
We are finite and imperfect, and yet we live and move and have our being in God. How do we embrace these seemingly contradictory truths? The key is learning the practice of paying attention to God in all aspects of our lives. In spiritual direction, a person trained in listening, reflection and discernment, helps others know God in the midst of the most ordinary of life experiences, and provides an environment where spiritual healing can take place.
Facilitated through prayerful conversation, this one-on-one relationship is directed toward encouraging intimacy with God. Through listening to the Spirit together, the director helps an individual discern the deep desires of their heart and discover the Truth that God has already placed there.
“Spiritual direction does not attempt to fix things. Rather than focus on problems, it focuses on spiritual longings. Instead of being reparative, it is developmental.“
Spiritual Direction is not advice giving, counseling, therapy, attempting to heal or fix a person, or pointing out their sin (the latter is the work of the Holy Spirit).
Spiritual Direction is primarily a listening modality; the purpose is spiritual formation, a process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others. Foundational to spiritual direction are two important truths: we believe God is good, that he is for us; and we believe that God is already at work. Sometimes when life is hard, these two truths can be hard to hold on to. We can begin to forget. The work of companioning others is to help observe or discover what God’s work looks like when we cannot see the forest for the trees.
“We defined Christian spiritual direction, then, is help given by one Christian to another which enables that person to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow and intimacy with God, and to live into the consequences of the relationship.“
FOUNDATIONAL ASSUMPTIONS
- God is good and he is for us.
- God is already at work in our lives. His Spirit is our true spiritual director.
- God desires to communicate with us. We have the ability to hear.
- God’s affections don’t hinge on us believing all the correct things about him.
- Our work is to discover and learn how to pay attention to what God is up to.
- Our work is to live an integrated life, to notice the sacred in the ordinary.
- Our work is to discern God’s invitations growing in our capacity to respond.
- Our work is to shape a spiritual life that inclines us towards faithfulness.
- Choices create change. We can grow in the capacity to choose well.
- There is no awareness of God without self awareness.
- Spiritual Direction supports the discovery of our God-given identity, gifts, and purpose.
CONNECTING
For more information, or if you would like to schedule an initial consultation, please connect with us on the CONTACT page. Sessions can be scheduled as face to face meetings, or video chat.
