Who should meet with a Spiritual Director?

Do you have anyone you meet regularly who you can be yourself with? Someone you can share your wins and losses. Someone who will listen to you attentively without judgment. Someone you can share your deepest longing and struggles. Someone you can share your doubts and unanswerable questions, and not be affected by them. Someone who you can meet with strict confidentiality. 

For many Christians talking about the things of God is usually reserved for their trusted friends or maybe a pastor. However, most of the time, those relationships don’t go far enough. Maybe you read a lot and are learning so much, and need someone to process with. A spiritual director is a trained listener who works as a metaphorical midwife to bring the divine to life. 

If you are seeking a new vocation or a path, or feeling a new calling, a spiritual director will be your guide, working to discern that voice along with you. For some, this need for a new path may come about in what Fr. Richard Rohr calls the “second half of life,” while for others, it may be the leading of God you need to discern as you look ahead toward your career or vocation. In either case, a spiritual director is there to help you discern and listen to the Holy Spirit with you.
 

Another category of people who need spiritual direction is people seeking to reconstruct their faith. Reconstruction refers to the idea of one’s faith deconstructing and needing to be rebuilt. A spiritual director is a trusted voice of reconstruction. Maybe you may define what you are going through as a faith mid-life crisis or even just a desire for something different. You may even just be bored but aren’t ready to give up. Your deep desire for more is exactly what a spiritual director is trained to walk through with you. There is so much more!
 

I know that it is difficult to hear God in the midst of our hectic daily lives. But if you are ready to commit some intentional time to really listen, then you are ready for spiritual direction!