My family is back from a fantastic time on the Monterey Peninsula! My 14-year-old son was one of 78 junior golfers from First Tee selected to play in the Pure Insurance Challenge at Pebble Beach. It was a dream that he (we) could never have dreamed of dreaming come true. He played four rounds of golf at Pebble Beach and Spy Glass and was paired with the perfect Pro for him. We are very grateful for the experience, the people we met, the beautiful sights, and the junior golf community. I never (ever) would have predicted that I would be a golf mom-it has its highs and lows. But, it was worth all the hours and days of hanging out at golf courses and coordinating lessons and tournaments to see him do what he does. After that fantastic week, I’m celebrating the passion, confidence, opportunities, and growth I see in my son.
I’m also celebrating finishing my spiritual director training!!!
It’s been a 22-month process that has been transformative in ways I could never have imagined. I started writing this newsletter to document my journey to become a spiritual director. While it doesn’t always come up here on Sunday evenings, that journey has shaped what I share and how I write. It’s hard for me to separate the two in my head. In many ways, my journey to become a spiritual director has been a journey of slowing down and noticing the smaller and deeper movements of grace and love that infuse life-for everyone.
I’m excited to share my sparkly, new website and spiritual direction practice with you! I’m sharing it in this newsletter first! It seemed most appropriate because our Sunday evening appointment each week has been a part of my formation process.
I considered many different names for my spiritual direction practice; my dear husband said, “you have the name; it’s smaller and deeper.” He was right; the name had to be smaller and deeper spiritual direction.
But, what IS spiritual direction?
Last year, I gave myself the assignment to articulate the assumptions I work from as a spiritual director. I think these begin to paint a picture of what spiritual direction is.
What I believe about Spiritual Direction: (My core assumptions)
Spiritual direction is for everyone; Love (God) is present in and with everyone.
I don’t have answers, but I love questions and believe that asking questions is vital for growth and formation.
Holding silence for another often is the gift of spiritual direction; in silence, one can hear their heart and often find grace for the moment.
Love (God) always shows up with what we need when we need it.
Spiritual direction goes back to the desert mothers and fathers. It’s not a new practice, but it’s become more well-known and practiced in the past few years. It’s not coaching or counseling; those are more outcome-based practices. Spiritual direction is about listening for and finding how Love (God) moves within, through, and out of human beings.
“A spiritual director is one who helps another recognize and to follow the inspirations of grace in life, in order to arrive where God is leading.”
-Thomas Merton
"Seek the companionship of others who will befriend you and listen as you live the questions of your life.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith
There isn’t a lot of direction that happens in spiritual direction; it’s more about holding space and silence to help the directee hear what their heart, mind, body, soul, and LOVE (God) are saying to them. I started practicing spiritual direction when I started the program, so I’ve been in many sessions with people. I can say with confidence the direction is most often already within a person; I listen and ask a few questions and unexpectedly expected the guidance, comfort, and direction longed for comes-every time!
Join my celebration!
I made a special “coupon” to celebrate and share with my smaller and deeper readers! If you would like to explore Spiritual Direction, you can do that; I would love to meet with you or help you find a spiritual director that would work best for you!
Also, I’m offering what I call developing a soul practice. This is a way to introduce a spiritual practice into the rhythm of your daily life over 6-8 weeks (enough time to let a habit launch!) There are nine different practices that I’ve chosen. These are all practices I’ve spent long periods in my life (not all at once!) practicing, and I’ve read at least a book, if not more. I see this as an introduction to spiritual direction. I’ll use my spiritual direction, listening, and reflecting skills in the four sessions! You can learn more about that here (on my website!)
The code that you can use a check-out at smallerdeeper.com is sdlaunch40
The code is 40% off! It’s just for you, my subscribers-you’ve been on this journey with me- it only makes sense that you are a part of this next chapter!
Thank you for reading my weekly newsletter; you’ve been a part of my formation and growth. I love sitting down each week and discovering what I’ll share with you! And, I love hearing back from you in emails, texts, phone calls, and in-person, something unexpected that “sparkled” for you in the words I shared. Thank you for being a part of the first half of the journey; I think it’s just getting started! I hope you’ll stay with me and see how this all unfolds!
Also-If, you are local-I’ve partnered with another local spiritual director to share a fantastic space in downtown Boise. We are a few weeks away from being able to use that space, but soon I’ll be doing in-person sessions! So let me know if you would like to meet in person!
This short video mediation by David Steindle-Rast is a lovely reminder of the power of gratefulness.
Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout
Lucy by the Sea is the 4th book about Lucy by Elizabeth Strout. I have loved every Lucy book. There is an echo of sadness in these books, and this one is the same. It’s the story of Lucy and her ex-husband, who leave New York City at the beginning of the pandemic for a small house by the sea in Maine. I wasn’t sure if it was still too soon for a pandemic-based book, but it turns out, for me,t. I found it a very cathartic read. If you have read other books by Elizabeth Strout, her other characters and stories always seem to find their way into other books. I highly recommend all of the Lucy books; My Name is Lucy Barton, Oh William!, and Anything is Possible are her other books about Lucy. I’ve read them all out of order-I don’t think there is a preferred order.
I’m sharing some of my favorite quotes about spiritual direction from just a few of the books I’ve read over my training. As always, read slowly and see what words sparkle or invite you deeper.
“spiritual direction is about listening to people’s stories, listening for glimpses of grace and hints of the holy, listening for the breakthrough presence of God in the midst of the ordinary life.”
-Sue Pickering
“My listening is different from that of many professional listeners in that I listen for how the holy penetrates lives. I am there to help people discover the way their lives are imbued with spirituality. This is spiritual direction.”
-Susan Philips
The task of the spiritual director is to be positioned, like a campfire in the wilderness, welcoming sojourners from all corners of life to stop, relax and yarn for a while. A place where tired bodies and spirits are warmed by the fire and refreshed. A friendly atmosphere where stories of the road are shared amongst travelers. The job of the spiritual director is to keep the fire burning; one never knows when a traveler will come to sit. It doesn’t matter where on the journey the traveler has been exploring, or how long they have been walking, if they come in peace to sit on a log by the campfire, they are welcome.”
-Simon Brown
“We are training our antennae to discover beneath the surface of all those we encounter the ‘suppressed signals of spirituality’ in the depth, the fire, the passion, and in God. We have decided to stand against accepting people’s version of themselves as the true version. We look beneath the surface and discover deeper longings, unexpressed dreams, God-saturated moments, and a hunger for life other than it is. We see only extraordinary people.!”
-Te Aroha Noa community as quoted by Sue Pickering