Spiritual Director – a Sherpa for the Climb of Your Life.
By Nathan
Imagine that you are preparing to climb Mount Everest. You gather maps, guide books, stories written by people who have been to the top. All of the research you think you might need.
As you digest this information, you come to recognize that you still don’t have what you need to arrive safely at the summit. You need a guide: someone who knows the terrain, the weather, the predators, the dangers, and the right trail.
You need a Sherpa to join you who has already traveled the route.
Aiming for the heights.
Every Christian has been given a mountain to climb that makes Everest look like a speed bump. “Therefore, be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)
In the Holy Scriptures, God provides the map. The testimonies of the Saints bear witness to us that climbing the mountain is indeed possible. The writings of learned theologians and mystics describe the signposts on the journey. Our churches try to train and prepare us for the trip.
But even with all of these resources, we still need a guide to travel with us, to warn us of dangers, to point out the narrow path, and to correct us when we go astray.
A good spiritual director already knows the route… from experience.
Spiritual directors receive special gifts from God that help them guide souls in the pursuit of perfection. Just like a good Sherpa, a good Spiritual Director will bear the marks of many successful journeys to the summit.
Virtues such as humility, holiness, gentleness, wisdom, patience, discernment, and above all self-sacrificing love, are the first things one should look for in a spiritual director. These virtues are like the callouses on the hands and creases on the face of an experienced guide who has survived many storms and perils.
Vices like pride, control, hypocrisy, condescension, and self-importance should be a warning that you are talking to a blind guide who will lead you off of a cliff. History is littered with stories of self-proclaimed spiritual masters who destroyed the lives of individuals and even entire communities. You will know a good spiritual director by the fruit that comes from their lives and their relationships.
Thank God for my Spiritual Sherpa!
At the beginning of my spiritual journey, I didn’t even know to seek a spiritual Sherpa. I did lots of reading and researching on my own, but was not making much real progress. The Lord showed me that I couldn’t do this on my own.
He brought me to the right spiritual director when I was prepared to start the journey. I am now quite certain that I would have fallen off the mountain without guidance. My director has helped me to train correctly, climb steep and slippery rock faces, choose the right path when faced with a fork in the trail, and survive blizzards.
My spiritual director has been able to gently correct many of my faults, to provide perspective on difficult situations, and to deliver a word from the Lord when my emotions were too stormy for me to hear clearly. He has shared in many joys and triumphs as well.
I still have a long way to go on my climb, but at least once a month I sit with my spiritual director for an hour to discuss what the Lord is saying and doing in my life. He listens prayerfully, with one ear towards me and another towards the Holy Spirit. And together, we climb the mountain of the Lord.
If you’d like to hear more about my spiritual journey, check out the testimony of my conversion in Demoniac, now available on Amazon.
