Spiritual Direction
I had a really interesting experience last night. One of my directees came to see me, and we talked about how we script our lives. In essence, we talked about how we use certain events in our lives to create a script or narrative through which we interpret and give meaning to other events that happen to us. Some of these are not very helpful.
One of my questions was about what kind of script God would write for this person. What did he think God would say about him? His observation was that while intellectually he could affirm these words and attitudes, this God Script as we called it, they didn't connect with his felt experiences. Interestingly, it is these felt experiences that shape his own script or narrative. Why is it we listen to the negative experiences that lead us away from God's love, and not to the experiences of God's love, that would allow us to know more intimately the God Script for our lives? In a way we choose to live in desolation, turned away from God, rather than in consolation, moving towards God.
What this helped me understand in a new way was what spritual direction is and the role it plays in our walk with God. Spiritual Direction provides an opportunity to pay attention in a deliberate way to our experience of God, and to rewrite our own spripts in light of that. More importantly, this paying attention also allows us understand our life through the God Script, rather than our much more negative script. In turn, spiritual direction provides a place to find our place in God's great story, which is told in scripture, and continues to be told through God's people today.
In essence, last night helped me see that spiritual direction asks of us which script we read our life through? Or our script, based on a selected few experiences, or God's script?
One of my questions was about what kind of script God would write for this person. What did he think God would say about him? His observation was that while intellectually he could affirm these words and attitudes, this God Script as we called it, they didn't connect with his felt experiences. Interestingly, it is these felt experiences that shape his own script or narrative. Why is it we listen to the negative experiences that lead us away from God's love, and not to the experiences of God's love, that would allow us to know more intimately the God Script for our lives? In a way we choose to live in desolation, turned away from God, rather than in consolation, moving towards God.
What this helped me understand in a new way was what spritual direction is and the role it plays in our walk with God. Spiritual Direction provides an opportunity to pay attention in a deliberate way to our experience of God, and to rewrite our own spripts in light of that. More importantly, this paying attention also allows us understand our life through the God Script, rather than our much more negative script. In turn, spiritual direction provides a place to find our place in God's great story, which is told in scripture, and continues to be told through God's people today.
In essence, last night helped me see that spiritual direction asks of us which script we read our life through? Or our script, based on a selected few experiences, or God's script?
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