Susan Beaumont is a brilliant consultant whose work guides mine as an institutional minister in my other job when I'm not being a spiritual director. And her column today struck me as being incredibly relevant to spiritual direction. She writes, "moving from reactivity to reflection calls for three kinds of work: acknowledging our losses, exploring unstated assumptions, and noticing what wants to emerge." Organizations, communities and individuals are all moving through those very kinds of holy work.
Many of us are trying to discern who we will be "after the vaccine." Beaumont offers up guiding questions for congregational leaders doing the same at an organizational level. Good questions will create a holding space for this transformational work. But what if we broke out our journals and explored these very questions at a personal level?
These are the questions she poses to congregational leaders translated for individual reflection.
What Did You Lose?
What were you on the verge of discovering or accomplishing before the onset of the pandemic? What needs to move forward in different ways now?
What was possible before that may not be possible for some time—if ever?
What seemed important before that feels superfluous now?
What Did You Assume?
What was undervalued before that may hold greater value now?
What mattered about geography before that no longer matters?
What margin or lack of margin was built into your old model of doing life? What new abundance are you experiencing now? Where are you experiencing scarcity now that was not evident before?
What Wants to Emerge?
What is your greatest asset now?
What relationships will you need to build on or strengthen in the months ahead?
What unique role might you play in local, national, and even global recovery?
What long term changes in the bigger picture would you like to be part of bringing to fruition?
Let me know you'd like to schedule a single session to roll around in these questions and see what is emerging for you.
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