Tuesday Twelve: In Praise of Good Decisions

This is my praise for making a good decision. I just did not feel right in the Institute I was a part of. I know the majority of the people in that Institute are having a phenomenal time, and I do not knock their experience of it. We are so uniquely created. In addition, our histories are all varied and different.

As I have gone through my overlapping Sacred Story (for Spiritual Direction Training Boise Cohort) and Graced History (for the Spiritual Exercises in Everyday Life Portland Cohort), I realize how incredibly blessed I have been with mentors and friends. Right after having made a total surrender and commitment to God at 19 years old, God brought me these wonderful wise women and men who taught me to dig deeper into my relationship with God. I think this is what the Institute was trying to do, giving people what they didn't have in the beginning of their journey. I was unusual in that I had it, and it was FREE whereas the Institute was NOT FREE. It was also not as personal as I would have liked it, and there were not personal mentors like I had the first time around. There were teachers who taught in an academic way. That was not what I wanted or needed. I have already been blessed in that way. Now it was time to go deeper. 

The Spiritual Exercises have been that "deeper still" and "excel still more" of 1 Thessalonians 4 (because love is the ultimate overflow of the Exercises). The Spiritual Direction training gives me a smaller cohort of like-hearted people and very personal and accessible mentors without a smidgen of academics. No writing papers that fit academic parameters or answer the questions they pose. We write one page summaries of the one book a month we read answering personally and not academically. 

It was a good move. I was doing it for personal growth, and a review is always good, but the habits they were attempting to instill have been firmly rooted in my habits and life, and it has been all for free. 

The first weekend in Boise was phenomenal, and people asked me questions about myself which did not happen very often in the Institute. I did a lot of listening, but I do that a lot in my life so I was looking for something more mutual. I have that from the Boise Cohort, and I also have my Best Boise Buddy, Debbie, to debrief after each day of training. Such a plus!

So I better go. It was great. I am so glad I made the radical decision to take the SEEL/Spiritual Direction offramp to a new FREEway on the road to the glory of God!