Spiritual Direction is Like a Wall Heater

My furnace went out a few weeks ago. We came home from church to a thermostat set to 68 degrees but read 63, and that number would lower. The next few days found us bundling up as we waited for the repair person to fix the problem. The two rooms in our basement have older wall heaters, safe enough to turn on when one is awake and present but not safe to leave unattended.

On Monday, after the furnace failure and one day before the promised repair, I holed up in one of the heated rooms with my work-from-home paraphernalia. Mondays are a day I try to work at the house, but my upstairs office felt too chilled to inhabit that day. So, I came in from the cold of the top floor to the basement family room, where I felt warm and mentally ready to tackle some tasks.

When I describe the art of Spiritual Direction to someone, words often fall short of what I am trying to convey. The mystery of the Spiritual Direction space is hard to grasp because it is unlike most spaces we encounter in life. We are used to putting language to faith spaces and experiences like “it was worshipful” or “I learned more about the Bible”, but usually that’s not really what happened, or at least not all of what happened.

In my experience with the furnace, I’ve begun to wonder if the wall heater might provide a fitting analogy for those of us who can’t quite figure out how to describe what we do as directors.Hear me out.

Spiritual Direction is like a wall heater in that the directee comes in from the cold of their life to encounter the warmth of the Holy Spirit. In what other space can a person bring their doubts, wonderings, grief, and joy (to name just a few human experiences) to an hour dedicated to holding those experiences without judgment?
Perhaps some find this true of church or their pastors’ office, or a good spiritual friend. However, the space granted to direction often offers a warmth that the world does not.

The Spiritual Director tends to the space like one might tend to a wall or space heater, simply being present to make sure it’s functioning in the right way, but mostly just being there. There is not much to do when tending a wall heater because it runs on its own, but if a piece of cloth or a toy gets too close to it, there’s a danger of a harmful flame.

The Holy Spirit will move, sometimes in tiny, almost imperceptible ways and sometimes in glaringly obvious ones, but it’s not a space to take lightly. There are no easy answers. Henri Nouwen believed that “The best guides are willing to be silent yet present, and are comfortable with unknowing.” Tending the space of direction involves silence, waiting, noticing, and not knowing. Sometimes I think that cold leave behind when we enter direction feels chilly because we are pressured to get the right answers quickly.

We are supposed to know and not wonder or be curious. We are left to quick reactions, rigid beliefs, and anxious thoughts.

Only when we encounter spiritual warmth can we find the clarity we need to get to know God better and, therefore, come to know ourselves authentically.

Spiritual Direction is a way to know this kind of welcome.

Spiritual Direction is like a wall heater. It’s not a fancy analogy, but it does the job.

1 Nouwen, Henri. Edited by Michale J. Christensen and Rebecca J. Laird. Spiritual Direction: Wisdom forthe Long Walk of Faith. New York, NY: HarperOne, 2006, 8.