Every human has a soul.
The soul functions as our most direct connection with our Creator.
Caring for our soul is a matter of health.
Spiritual direction is a relationship that helps us care for our souls and nurture our relationship with God.
In companionship not authority, a spiritual director walks with a directee toward nurturing his or her relationship with God. The relationship is intended to, simply and profoundly, help the directee pay attention to God. Spiritual direction is silence, prayer, listening, questioning, journeying, struggling. Direction is not therapy or counseling, there is no goal toward solutions or answers from a human expert. Spiritual direction is an ancient practice of accompanying people in their spiritual journey toward freedom and peace. It is available to people of all faiths and those who are spiritual but have no religion.
“We define [Christian] spiritual direction as help given by one [Christian] to another which enables that person to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of the relationship. The focus of this type of spiritual direction is on experience, not ideas…” (Barry & Connolly, The Practice of Spiritual Direction)
A Winter Tree 