I thought enlisting in a spiritual direction formation program would be a nice way to develop deeper listening skills for my work as a consultant to congregations for my denomination. After all when I asked "which what ears shall I listen?" when church leaders called, "coaching? consulting? or pastoral?" more and more leaders answered "pastoral." It's been that kind of work in the world, hasn't it?
But something changed over the course of the two year program. Spiritual direction broke me open. Woke me up. I'm not sure how to go back to the way things were.
Spiritual director is the most dangerous job I can think of.
Spiritual direction is the radical, counter-cultural act of remembering your authentic, divine self. It's reconnecting to your birthright Ultimate Source, the god of your understanding.
And do you understand just how dangerous that is?! Our entire U.S. economy is counts on your self-loathing and the quest for (the illusion of) perfection. Big pharma cashes in on the diseases stemming from your disconnection and disaffection. But you don't have to participate.
If therapy helps one learn healthy normalcy, then spiritual direction helps us transcend beyond that status quo. And what if we lived there all the time? The ordinary became sacred. You trusted you were good enough, that you are God's delight and joy just as you are. You identified your core values and code and then aligned your life by them. I call that process faithing.
Consider spiritual direction. What will you faith today?
