At a local behavioral mental health organization, there is a waiting list of 1,100 names – people in need of a therapist.   Each name contains with it a life in pain, a story that needs airtime with a trusted person, a home blowing about in strong winds.  Each name is someone in need of another person. 

We are built for one another.  We are built to enjoy a trusted person with some of our life.  In the second creation story in Genesis, God realizes one human, alone, is not good, and creates another human different than the first one.[1]  Solitary confinement is considered a harsh sentence.  It is worth noting in the New Testament, over 40 times various writers, in various ways, name that we are in need of “one another.”  This “one another-ing” is the very basic, foundational realization of spiritual direction.  In fact, the little verse: bear one another’s burdens – is the heart of my work.

If you are realizing for the first time or for the thirty-first time you need someone to hear your words, I encourage you consider Spiritual Direction.  Spiritual directors are trained to listen, to extend hospitality, to walk with the seeker as they make their way with God. 

Psychology work is best linked with your spiritual work, and this is what spiritual direction abundantly offers.  And while we do not diagnose – that is a therapist’s work – we might offer a bit of homework around a spiritual practice.  Inviting you into a quiet internal space with the God of your understanding.   Come, let us sit together with God.[2]

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[1] Genesis 2:18

[2] Matthew 18:20