“Do you believe that God is with you, right now while the lightning crashes overhead and the creek rises below?” The two college students I addressed had been leading all through the long hard day, and they glanced around them, their eyes wildly looking for some sense of safety and security. We had evacuated an […]
Spiritual Direction: Nurturing Our Uniqueness
I was reviewing some of my recent reading and came across this great word from Eugene Peterson about the gift of spiritual direction, especially when we?ve been down the road with Christ for a while. As we grow into maturity in Christ our distinctiveness is accentuated, not blunted. General directions, useful as they are, don?t […]
Good Faith When Life Feels Bad
Jean Grou, in his book, Manual for Interior Souls, addresses a common theme in spiritual direction: consolation and desolation. Experiences of consolation are those experiences of God?s felt presence, tangible comfort, refreshing insight or energizing guidance. The Christian life feels good in seasons of consolation. Experiences of desolation are those times when spiritual disciplines are […]
Spiritual Direction: Unassertiveness Training
Eugene Peterson, in his book Under the Unpredictable Plant, offers this insight into the practiced ministry of spiritual direction (and this way of life): ?Direction carries an obvious connotation of taking charge and showing the way. But spiritual direction is more likely to be quiet and gentle, unassertive and reticent. One of the characteristics of […]
Spiritual Leadership: Lessons from Spiritual Direction
Here is a great summary of what makes a good spiritual director. These qualities are also useful for those of us in any form of spiritual leadership. You can easily change out the words ?spiritual director? for ?Christian leader.? How is God growing these qualities in your own life and ministry? The lines in bold […]
Give the Gift of Listening
“Being listened to is so close to being loved that most people cannot tell the difference.? (David of Augsburg) A truly good listener is hard to find. ?Have you ever been with someone, and as they listened to you, you felt as though you were the only person in the room?? The person listening had […]
Come and See. Come and Know.
Here is a remarkable quotation from Carlo Carretto (1910-1988). He went into the Sahara desert in 1954 to live among and serve the poor and so draw closer to Christ. He was a member of the ?Little Brothers of Jesus?, a group who sought to live out of the lifestyle of Charles de Foucault. Brennan […]
