Last week at the Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality I completed training to learn how to be a supervisor of spiritual directors. In spiritual direction, a supervisor is not what you might think, i.e. a ‘boss’ to oversee and critique the spiritual director. The supervisor is more like another spiritual director, there to help the actual spiritual director explore and deepen his or her awareness of God during a particular spiritual direction session. Having a supervisor is a ‘best practice’ for all spiritual directors.
In the opening remarks, the instructor said something that stuck with me, not only as a spiritual director but as one who spends a lot of time attending to the needs of another. She said, “God cares about both the directee and the director.” In a spiritual direction session, my single-minded focus is the spiritual needs of the other. It had not occurred to me that God has a dual focus, my needs and those of the other. In this three-person encounter (me, the directee, and the Holy Spirit), God cares just as much about me – my spiritual well-being, awareness of God’s presence, and interior movements.
I can extend this to any exchange with another person. Instead of seeing this as one doing the giving and the other doing the receiving, I can reimage this as God doing the giving, and both me and the other person receiving the mercy, healing, and grace that flows from God in this blessed encounter. It matters not whether I am the directee or the director, the giver or the recipient.
I chose a photo of footprints in the sand I took on Folly Beach one morning. The well-known parable of the same name has two sets of footprints walking side by side. When trouble sets in, there is only one set walking alone. I have had a career as a factory supervisor and manager, responsible for leading and directing others. I have also spent twenty-plus years as a deacon where I am often addressing someone else’s pastoral and spiritual needs. I often feel like the one set of footprints walking by myself. I’m walking toward a worthy goal, as in the sun rising in the photo but still just walking by myself. With this newfound realization, I am not walking alone. In my revised image, the Lord is carrying (and caring for) not only me but the other as well.
When you struggle to figure out how to help another person, remember: God not only cares about the other person more than you, but God cares about you just as much.
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