Blessing is waiting

When it comes to mentoring or spiritual direction, blessing is waiting. But why bother? What’s the point of it anyway?

Those are fair enough questions, but let’s be honest: We have other questions that might be quietly paused within your spirit. Let’s try two:

1. What are you looking for? It’s another way of asking about your level of contentment, I suppose. What makes you curious? When do you feel most at rest within your spirit? When was the last time you would say you knew yourself to be heard, deeply listened to, and highly valued?
2. What are you longing for?  It’s been said, “Stay close to your longing…” This refers to yearnings, craving, hungering, or just plain desiring. It’s another way to look within to assess your level of interior contentment.

Mentoring gives sacred access to one’s life, heart, interior self, and, yes, soul.

 Try this question next:  If Jesus were to walk in the streets of your community with you, what would he do? Where would he pause to linger? Where would Jesus march with intentionality and purpose? What would he say to you as you walked in your neighborhood?

I believe Jesus would gather, draw people in, and attract people with welcome, invitation, and blessing. I say this with confidence because that is how God treated him at the Transfiguration described in Luke 9. 

• The transfiguration was an experience of sacred access—like prayer, Jesus gave the Father access to his soul.
• Abba declared words of blessing  we all long to hear:  “You are my son (daughter) in whom I am well pleased.”  Adoration, affection, respect, and esteem. You can hear all of that in Abba’s declaration about Jesus. Don’t be surprised: Wherever there is blessing, God is present. God lives in our blessings. God thrives in people’s stories when they are themselves blessed and when they are themselves a blessing to others. Jan Richardson writes, “Although a blessing might not be magical, a good blessing nonetheless shimmers with the mystery that lies at the heart of God. A blessing speaks from God’s mysterious heart into our own heart, meeting us in our ache for connection and presence. A blessing taps into our longing for what lies beyond our experience and understanding, helping us recognize how mystery makes its home within the familiar contours of our life.”[1]
• Wherever there is blessing, there is an invitation to receive what the Father offers. Of Jesus, he told them all, “Listen to him.”[2]

Blessing is waiting

So, why mentoring? I’ve been a follower of Jesus for many years, so why now? What’s the point?  It’s actually pretty simple. Most of the time, we live in the exterior world of what we see, hear, sense, taste, and touch.  

Life moves at a deeper level than our attention to our souls.  

Meanwhile, blessing is waiting.  Like an open door, God invites us deeply into our desires, longing, hopes, and needs.  

Meanwhile, blessing is waiting.  It may come in the form of a spiritual friend, a spiritual director, a spiritual mentor. 

Trust me: blessing is waiting.   

 

[1] Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons, p. xv.

[2] Luke 9:35