Living Spiritual Life

It is easy for us to forget, and think spiritual life is about special effects. We hear stories of the pyrotechnics of someone else’s mountaintop experience, and get distracted.

We begin to approach spiritual life like a movie or a video. We want to watch the one with the best explosions and dramatic shots. It is as if we are in the audience, watching, rather than experiencing our own lives.

Spiritual life is not filled with exciting chases or hairpin turns for me. My experience of spiritual life is more like a long walk up a steep hill than driving a fast car.

Spiritual life can be dramatic and exciting, but it is not usually very entertaining.

Spiritual life is challenging work, done one step at a time. We are exploring, excavating deep truths and bringing them into the light of day. We share our stories, filled with lessons, but they are not allegories. They are real. Discovering these valuable nuggets takes real, painful work.

Spiritual life is often the work of uncovering what we have hidden even from ourselves.

Living spiritual life draws our best from us, out into the light where it can be seen. We practice telling our truths to ourselves and to other people. Spiritual life shows us how to recognize the intimate importance of our lives.

Spiritual life is not about illusions or special occasions. It is not about wearing fancy clothes or following rules, being good or how we feel. Spiritual life is how we live with ourselves, with other people, and with deep Sacred truths.

Spiritual life is not about what we do, but about who we are and how we live.

What truths have you hidden, even from yourself?

How is spiritual life revealing the best in you today?

[Image by Wighman]