I met with my spiritual director today after worship. We meet in a room on the church campus, sit in chairs facing one another, and talk about spiritual matters for a while. (He indulged me and my #AdventWord practice by letting me take a picture of our feet before we began.)
There are any number of people who care about me and who I care about in return. And there are those instances when the care is not exactly reciprocal, but that's another story.
This relationship is one worth noting for today's word because I sought him out when I knew I needed to talk to someone. I contacted the priests at the church and the rector put this spiritual director in touch with me. This is probably one of the rare and possibly one of the most important instances of me taking action for self-care.
I believe that my spiritual director cares about me, and for me. I entrust my anxieties and spiritual misgivings into his care. He has heard me, taken the time to hear me in ways that I don't always experience, in ways I seldom even allow people the chance. After almost two years of meeting, I'm only beginning to understand what he's doing for me.
It is even more appropriate that "care" is the word today, as caring became a part of our discussion. How do we care for one another, for the world? Where and how is our anger channeled when we want to be gentle? We answer each other with stories, most of which illustrate the problem without necessarily answering the question---but still somehow illuminates a way forward.
I believe we both understand this exercise in meeting, speaking, and listening to be about more than just me or us or anything we share in common. Today, we talked about the world we want to live in, how we imagine it, how our imaginations build the world into the Reign of God.
Our conversation is a small part of caring about what is approaching, indeed what is already at hand.
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