Spiritual pathways...

Having looked in my last entry at the value of silence in drawing nearer to God, I feel that it is worth pulling back slightly. There are many traditions and authors who would advocate silence. I can endorse from my own experience that it is beneficial. However, as Christopher Jamieson has said, silence is not the aim but rather a means. It is a means of allowing us to get closer to God, and it is far from being the only one.

One of the things that I have learned increasingly in recent years is that people are different. Intellectually, I think that most of us know this even if we resort to stereotyping as a way of simplification. I do wonder, however, how many people realise the extent of the differences and how they affect people's world-view. The phrase I catch myself using is "but most people would think that". It is, I suspect, more often wrong than right.

For some people silence and solitude come naturally. Their soul sings whenever they have the opportunity to spend time with nothing but their own thoughts. For others solitude is a long, slow death. The important thing here is not to get hung up on the techniques, but rather to look firmly towards the goal. Spending time getting to know the heart of God.

In his book, Courageous Leadership, Bill Hybels writes

Years ago I notice that various leaders whom I respected went about their walks with God in vastly different ways. The variety was stunning to me. I started to keep a mental list of all their different approaches. Then I came across a book called Sacred Pathways, written by Gary Thomas which further pushed my thinking on this subject.

Sacred pathways are like doors which open into a room where we can feel particularly close to God. Just as different leaders have different personalities and combinations of gifts so they have many different spiritual pathways.

The challenge to me from Bill Hybels book was not directly to spend more time in silence, but rather to explore the way that I relate to God. To find the things that make my spiritual life blossom, and then to order my life so that I can spend as much time pursuing them. On one thing Jamieson and Hybels agree. Spending time in this place is not self-indulgence, it is essential.

All of the concepts I am exploring seem to revolve around this core point. Finding the kingdom, being transformed, repenting, serving, dying to self: all start with a journey into the heart of God. I'm still struggling with my spiritual pathways, but it is a rewarding struggle. One that I thoroughly recommend...