Throughout scripture, we see light associated with God in various ways. Not only do we read that the very essence of God is light in 1 John 1:5, but also that God uses this light for guidance. Psalm 119:105 says that God’s word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. God’s word helps us figure out where we’ve been, where we are currently, and where we are going. Yet discerning God’s word isn’t always easy to do on our own. Either we don’t recognize it, ignore it, confuse it for something it’s not, or simply are moving too fast to hear that still small voice.

When two gather for a spiritual direction session, the assumption is that there is always a third person present- the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that is the true director, the true guide in the conversation. Spiritual direction simply offers space for our attention to be brought to God’s guiding light.

In a world overshadowed by despair, where darkness seems to permeate, Jesus says we are the light of the world. Yet when we aren’t attuned to the main light source- the Triune God- it can be difficult to recognize the light within, let alone be a light to the world.

Through spiritual direction, the hope is that not only will the directee deepen and strengthen their connection with God, but through this deepened connection, they will learn more about who God created them to be and live increasingly more into their true selves. Yet this process is not solely for the purpose of self-enlightenment. As we grow to know and love God and ourselves more, we can’t help but to have a positive impact on those around us. As Henri Nouwen writes in Making All Things New, “To be lifted up into the divine life of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit does not mean, however, to be taken out of the world. On the contrary, those who have entered into the spiritual life are precisely the ones who are sent into the world to continue and fulfill the work that Jesus began. The spiritual life does not remove us from the world but leads us deeper into it.” As God becomes our guiding light, we are increasingly able to be a guiding light to the world.

In 1999, Kellie was diagnosed with brain cancer when she was only 25 years old. She would go on to battle cancer, and eventually multiple sclerosis, for the next 15 years until she went to be with Jesus in 2014. Despite the pain, suffering and disappointment these diseases unleashed upon her life, she genuinely lived in the joy of the Lord. Kellie had a Jesus t-shirt for every day of the week and unashamedly shared Jesus with others everywhere she went. Her smile was and still is a key remembrance of her life. Discipleship was her life’s work along with being a teacher and a mom. While she was transitioning from this life to the next, I made a promise to her that I would take up her mantle of discipleship and sharing Jesus with others, not knowing at the time what that really meant for me, yet knowing it to be true. This is one of many reasons that working as a spiritual director feels right.

Kellie was twelve years my elder, so many of the influences she had on me as a little girl were the interests of a teenager. One of those interests was her enjoyment of the soap opera “Guiding Light.” I quickly (strangely) became a fan of the show as a 5/6 year old girl and it was something that we bonded over. When the name “Guiding Light” came to me, I immediately thought of Kellie and knew God was working many things together in the name.