Lessons for an intentional spirituality.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

I traveled one day to purchase a kit to make my own kayak.  I learned some things that day about my journey with the Lord.

On occasion a solo spirituality is a blessing.  The disciplines of silence and solitude require it.  But do not shun the company of others on your journey.  It is God’s wisdom to wrap us with faith and bring us into the community of a relationship with Himself, and His church.  Ours is a communal spirituality in the truest sense.

I began a journey with my son.  There is often serendipity on such a journey.  I had gotten the time wrong and we arrived at Pygmy Boats an hour early.  Next door was a quaint restaurant.  We enjoyed breakfast together while waiting.  Though we had ridden a ferry and driven an hour together already, there is something about a meal to create an extra level of community, even with father and son.  We enjoyed good food, a waitress who was beginning her first day on the job, and information about a wonderful bakery.

Such serendipity reminds me that we can be too programmed in our spiritual practices, too driven by our own (not always so spiritual) agendas.  I believe the Holy Spirit does lead us and He may well ignore our agendas, our goals for a particular time of prayer, our need for programmed spirituality.  Enjoy the serendipitous spiritual moment.

A second such moment on our journey was that Phillip heard “Car Talk” on NPR for the first time.  He loved it!  Our lives, lived side-by-side for so long already, now were bonded with an additional memory, another experience of life and happiness together.  Does the Holy Spirit work such serendipity for us in our spiritual journey?  Yes, I think He does.  Interpret with a spiritual eye the goings-on in life.

The community of faith is so helpful to us in this ‘ongoing contextualized interpretation’ of the Holy Spirit’s direction in our spiritual journey.  Make it a habit to consult them.

Text and Picture, Copyright Don Schatz