And when there is a promise of a storm,
if you want change in your life, walk into it. 
If you get on the other side, you will be different. 

And if you want change in your life, 
and you are avoiding the trouble, you can forget it. 

So Harriet would say, 
Wade on in the water. It’s really gonna be troubled water.

-Prelude, Wade in the Water, Sweet Honey in the Rock

The ministry of spiritual direction provides a container for the Holy in our lives to be heard. It is space to tend to our deepest longing, with another as witness and companion; brave space where we are invited to linger with our experience of God active in our lives. 

What spiritual direction is not is also as important to note. 

Companioning is about being present to another person’s pain;
It is not about taking away or relieving the pain.

Companioning is respecting disorder and confusion;
It is not about imposing order and logic. 

Companioning is about going into the wilderness of the soul with another human being. It is not about thinking you are responsible for finding the way out. 

-Alan Wolfelt

It is not a place to avoid the trouble, but rather a place to risk wading into the deep water, and noticing. 

What we know is the container of spiritual direction is a container within the container of the world in which we live. And it is all held in God, like a child held in the mother’s womb, one body. Our bodies are vessels of the Holy and its longings. We are given the agency to choose how these longings will take form and live and move on the earth. But it means listening to that which is too deep for words.

Ground of all being,
Mother of Life,
Father of the Universe,
Your name is sacred, beyond speaking.
May we know your presence.
May your longings be our longings
in heart and in action.
May we be food for the human family today
and for the whole earth community.
Forgive us the falseness of what we have done
as we forgive those who are untrue to us.
Do not forsake us in our time of conflict,
But lead us into new beginnings.
For the light of life,
the vitality of life
and the glory of life
are yours now and for ever.
Amen

The Casa del Sol Prayer Of Jesus  ~John Philip Newell

When I am preparing to sit with someone for spiritual direction, I often pause for a moment to try to feel all the other deep, sacred listening being offered this day by spiritual companions across our country and across the world. Whether it is being done formally or informally, I pray for us, and believe together we are listening into being life wanting to break forth. We are companions into the deep water where a different future awaits, brought in by the storm.  Our work as directors offers a place where the spirit’s fierce new song might be heard.  

In this storm of 2020 many are asking, what is mine to do? Praying, 

“God, what would you have me do or be right now on your behalf?

Accepting the answer is courageous work because it can come with, “the trouble” and a promise of a change in my life. 

I remember my grandmother telling me she didn’t like to swim, even on the hottest summer day. She’d say, “the trouble with swimming is you have to get so wet.”

It may be the most important spiritual practice of our time to commit to listening deeply for what is mine to do, and risking the first step into it. 

And as an organization what is Stillpoint’s to do? We are asking this too. As staff, program faculty, board, and alumni we are listening together for what the Spirit says to do and calling forth the courage to do it. 

Spiritual director Judith Favor offered those gathered with her for Stillpoint’s Annual Contemplative retreat last week a way to practice this kind of listening wherever we are on our journeys.  She agreed to share it here. 

TOGETHER IN STILLNESS

Each of us can do something to restore justice.  I invite you to join me in a silence, in a time to remember those who grieve, and to listen for inward guidance in taking the next right step.

·      Set a timer for 8 minutes and 49 seconds. Breathe freely.
·      Sit quietly. Notice what you love to do, and do well.
·      Imagine how you might offer your gift to benefit others.
·      Write a list of ways you could rise to the call.
·      Which idea most lifts your spirit?
·      What one action can you take today?

Let us breathe together in stillness each day.
Let us see what Love can do.

Published in Claremont CA Courier 6-12-20

Blessings for the Journey, 

Elizabeth+