If you’re like me, you’ve been around the church block a time or two.

You know the lingo.

Redemption, sanctification, all that jazz…

But every once in a while, a new term sneaks onto the scene.

One of these, for me, has been the concept of “spiritual direction”–a term that started popping up in my circles over the last decade.

Off the cuff, spiritual direction sounds like it might involve one person giving direction and the other one taking it (finally, a spiritual model for us control freaks!!) but that is misleading.

Spiritual direction is closer to spiritual companionship; where one person accompanies another on their spiritual journey. It involves listening, reflecting, observing another person and helping them deepen their awareness and response to God.

Even that sounds sort of vague..but also compelling. Does it not?

Hence why I invited Mary Darling, a personal friend and co-author of two books along these lines, to help us demystify the word and see if there might be some value in it for those of us trekking along after God.