From The Shooting Star, May 7, 2006. Copyright 2006, Ellen Rowse Spero. All rights reserved.
Spiritual direction is a growing field, in and beyond Unitarian Universalism. A spiritual director is a professional guide, one who listens, supports, and helps a person with their spiritual life and spiritual practices. Spiritual direction grew out of the Irish Monastic tradition of the soul friend. As the name suggests, a soul friend offered support and companionship for your soul, as you negotiated the ups and downs of life and faith.
As you may have gleaned from some of my columns that I have a soul friend. She is not professionally trained. In fact, she is not very well trained at all, although she is housebroken. She is Fritzl, my dog. Our dog, I should say. It is Fritzl who accompanies me on long walks through the woods or around the neighborhood. I use these walks to clear my head, to allow to surface the thoughts, feelings, ideas, hopes and fears of my life. On these walks, I talk through my sermons, I work through ideas, feelings and challenges. Fritzl listens well, until she gets distracted by a squirrel. These walks often also bring close to the beauty and wonder of nature, from which I draw constant awe and inspiration.
Fritzl and I keep each other company through the changes in the seasons. Each walk brings new sounds, new smells, new vistas. We have walked through snow, through rain and mud, through heat and humidity, watching the changes in the flora and the fauna. Of course, I could go on my own, but it would not be the same. I would not be out there with the constancy I need without Fritzl. She knows when I need a walk and will follow me around the house, wagging her tail and grrring quietly but urgently, reminding me that there is nothing so important that a little walk can’t wait. I amazed at the number of times I tell her and myself that we will do the short loop, only to be encouraged and captured by her joyful and running spirit to do the big loop, through the bog and the woods, over the stream--the whole nine yards. We have non-verbal conversations of a kind, about the scents in the breeze, the sound of frogs, the joy of a good run, and disagreements about wading into the muddy water. She is also the one who lays at my feet while I write my sermons, who cuddles up close on the couch during the Sox games, who runs around with the kids in the yard, playing shortstop in Sam’s backyard baseball games
I have had many conversations with adults and children about the companionship their pets offer them. They do provide their own kind of spiritual direction. Cats and dogs provide a being to love and play with. A fish or a gerbil can give a child their first experience of taking care of another living being. So in the honor of these unique kind of soul friends, I will lead another Pet Blessing, the last Sunday in June. Meanwhile, I offer my thanks to all those creatures who keep us company.
On a totally different note, a big THANK YOU to everyone who worked, ate, and otherwise contributed to the May Breakfast, particularly Joanna Paulsen, who took on leadership of this event this year, to Tom Christiano who organized the dining room, and to Carlene Merrill who mentored everyone through.
In faith,
Rev. Ellen