What Are The Benefits Of Spiritual Direction?
In the Fetzer Institute’s 2020 report on “Spirituality In America” they report these results about Americans:
More than eight out of ten people consider themselves spiritual in some context.
Six of Ten people aspire to be more spiritual
Nearly half of people say they have become more spiritual over the course of their life
Most people engage in at least one spiritual practice during their week
Do you include yourself in one of these categories? Maybe you would like to be more spiritual but don’t really know what that means in your context. Maybe you have found yourself disgruntled or “unfed” by your church situation and are seeking more.
Spiritual Direction is an intentional time for you to sit with someone who serves as a companion on your spiritual journey. The process works a lot like talk therapy works in that you typically bring something to your session (which typically meet monthly) and along the way we listen and look for the movement of God in your life. Now that doesn’t sound too magical but often we discover that God is so close that we just needed to look in a different way. So, what are some benefits of Spiritual Direction?
Spiritual Direction creates a unique faith-filled friendship:
I have benefitted greatly by having a friend who also serves as a guide and mentor but never in a way that isn’t supportive. Typically your spiritual director is not specifically involved in your day-to-day life and that separation allows them to be a compassionate person in your corner who encourages you to seek after God in a healthy way.
Spiritual Direction offers you an intentional spiritual conversation:
The classic spiritual practices are prayer, meditation, chanting, breathing exercises and ceremonies or rituals. For many people, Spiritual Direction becomes a new spiritual practice. It can be viewed as a time of honest prayer as it is often a holy conversation that God is present in. Often times in direction I use breathing exercises, silence, pauses and meditation to center or draw attention to an area of life where God is providing an invitation. The real benefit of spiritual direction is that a spiritual companion is there to help draw out a more honest relationship with the Spirit of God.
Spiritual Direction engages you with the fruit of the Holy Spirit of God:
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Maybe you know a song that goes with these or maybe you don’t. Either way, an outcome or benefit of spiritual direction is that it puts you in touch with these feelings and they begin to manifest in your life due to you noticing them at work in your life. As a spiritual companion, I try to notice these as often as I can. I listen to you carefully and often people will say that they sense or feel one of these but not realize that in and of that sense is a closeness to God. An experience with God should produce these feelings. In a session these often come up in unexpected ways.
Spiritual Direction can redefine your relationship with God and yourself:
Often times people seek out spiritual direction because they are seeking to grow spiritually or they are trying to recover from a negative experience with faith (doubts, hurts, loss of faith, etc.). There is a real honesty that occurs in a session because it is truly a safe place. It is a prayerful place to lament, to celebrate, to explore where you have come from and where you are going. I have worked with people who began our first session with “I just don’t believe in God anymore” to “I want to know more about the Holy Spirit.” Where we begin on this journey is surely not where we will end up. Spiritual direction has redefined my relationship with myself and with God.
So today, if you are looking to begin a new relationship with a spiritual director, I would be honored if you would consider me but I would also advocate for you to meet with a spiritual director because I know that you will live a more intentional, faith-filled life that is guided by the spirit and that in and of itself will redefine you relationship with the Divine. To me, those are the great benefits of Spiritual Direction.
