Spiritual Direction ministry has been around for a long time but has been a more familiar or common ministry in the Catholic tradition. In more recent years there has been a renewal of interest in protestant traditions. Many Christians have no experience or understanding of what spiritual direction ministry is or what it can look like. Spiritual Direction is a little bit of an odd term, but a Spiritual Director is someone who has gone through training that may include learning and practicing ancient spiritual prayer practices such as lectio divina, prayer of examen, centering prayer, meditation and more. Spiritual Directors also spend time learning about and practicing holy listening and asking questions of hospitality as well as Ignatian Spiritual Practices. But Spiritual Directors actually do not do as much "directing" as their titles may indicate, but instead do a lot of listening, observing and pointing out where they notice God is at work in the life of others. It is truly the Holy Spirit who does the directing, as the Spiritual Director listens to the Holy Spirit and the client (directee) and acts more as a companion in the spiritual journey, open to holding space for another as that person seeks God in their life. I think Spiritual Companions is a better term and Spiritual Companioning gives a better feel for what this ministry is actually about.
So what does it look like to meet with a Spiritual Director for a one-to-one session? Each spiritual director will have their own way and style of doing things, but often sessions will have some similarities from one director to another. Personally, I like to begin each session with lighting a candle and a simple prayer to mark the time and space as special and to remember Gods presence with us in the moment. Then some sessions will include sharing a prayer practice together and giving space for the directee to respond to their experience of God through the practice. Sometimes a directee will come to a session with a specific purpose and we will jump right in, allowing the directee to share what is on their heart and mind. There will be moments of sharing, silence, reflection, questions, and pondering. Nothing is off limits as all aspects of life are spiritual in nature as I believe God is present in all things; but topics discussed are usually focused on areas of life that are related to our relationship with God and others. Common questions you may hear may be: what has your experience of prayer been like?, how have you experienced Gods presence, or absence in life recently, or in this situation?, are their scriptures that come to mind in relationship to what you are experiencing? A session is usually 45 minutes to one hour and this time is often considered by many to be holy and sacred, life giving, restful, hard work, and thought provoking. To end a session we will usually share a blessing or a prayer and take a moment to reflect on what your hope, or prayer is for the coming day, week or month ahead. Homework is something requested by some clients (directee's) and offered as a "take it or leave it" optional part of direction. It is common to meet for spiritual direction once a month, or more often during an especially difficult time in life. If you are interested in trying a one-to-one spiritual direction session, then I am happy to meet with you for free for an initial session in order to give you an opportunity to experience what Spiritual Direction can look like in your life. Spiritual Direction will be different for each person, and an experienced and thoughtful director will navigate sessions differently depending on a directee's needs and desires.
As I have been considering the question, "what is prayer", and how over the last couple of years my mind has been opened to the idea of prayer as attunement to God, prayer as breath, creativity, and the giving of full attention, most recently I have had the thought of prayer as interruption. I have four children who are now getting older and nightly routines are harder to keep, if not impossible. We used to read together every night before bed, and pray all together, as parents we mostly controlled our children's schedules. My husband and I now often find ourselves being tucked in by our children. We have 3 teenagers and a preteen and life feels like one constant interruption. As I have struggled with what it looks like to continue to pray together as a family, and as we navigate life with constant interruption, I have found myself leaning into the idea of allowing prayer to be an interruption. Some days I don't want to interrupt what my children are doing and I have used it as an excuse not to pray together and just go to bed, disappointed that we have gone through another day without praying as a family. But, I have decided recently to try allowing prayer to be an interruption; stopping what I am doing, and what our kids are doing, and asking them to join me, us, in prayer. Sometimes we do a simple prayer of petition for others, or share the Lord's prayer, sometimes we offer words of thanks for the day, and other times we go a little deeper and do a prayer of examen, or engage in imaginative prayer. I have even taken it as far as inviting the kids into imaginative prayer on longer car rides out of town, usually interrupting their reading, music listening, or video gaming. I was worried, interrupting them would lead to frustration and rude remarks, complaints, or resentment. But so far, no complaints about being interrupted to pray together....I do not get the same response when I interrupt them to ask them to help wash the dishes, ........still working on that one, .....I am not afraid to say I am struggling to even understand what praying together looks like at this stage in our families life, but for now, I am trying to feel settled with prayer as intentional interruption. Lord hear our prayers!
Over the last two years I have done an extensive amount of reading around the practice of Spiritual Direction. Many of the books and articles have been profound, challenging, informative, practical and even life changing with many ideas which have resonated and stuck with me. But interestingly, in all those books and articles there have only been a few exact words that have lingered, that I have found myself revisiting over and over and over...those kind of words that you get stuck on, and that you feel require something of you and beckon you to stop, to pay attention, to take a deep breath and focus on Jesus. A poem I read by a man named Jason G. Edwards, contains words that have truly lingered with me, I have at times carried them in my purse, in my car and even my back pocket to pull out, reread and respond. Such words are worth sharing. Interestingly enough, my husband had found this poem on a blog that Jason G. Edwards was writing that he took down when he shifted his writing to substack. I could not find the poem for a while, we are so used to being able to google anything and find it, but my efforts kept turning up empty. The few words I could remember kept popping up in my mind and as I remembered only parts of it I found myself longing to find the entire poem, to sit with it again. Thankfully, I found Dr. Jason G. Edwards on instagram and was able to message him and inquire about the poem. I couldn't remember the exact name, just a few words and the overall theme. He was kind enough to search for the poem I requested and email it to me-a total stranger, unaware of its profound effect on me. I have shared this poem several times in recent months and found others, like me, asking for the words, and wondering where to find it. I feel like this poem is worth sharing, worth allowing to linger in your thoughts, in your spirit and beckon you to respond....
Let Your Attention be Your Prayer
We assume prayer is what we say
But maybe, it's also what we see, what we notice.
Notice the spiral of your thoughts
Notice the weight you are carrying.
Notice where you've placed the center of your life.
When we worry, we're giving something our full attention.
What if we turned our attention toward peace?
Not to fix the thing
Nor to solve the mystery.
But to remember the One alreadty present in the midst of it.
Maybe that's the key shift:
From worry as a habit
to prayer as a posture.
From spinning stories
to settling into Presence.
You don't need to find new words.
Prayer isn't about trying harder.
It's about noticing better.
That's when peace moves in-
Not as an answer
but as the one who'll hold the question with you.
by-Jason G. Edwards