Greetings, Inspired Seekers!

Who are your teachers? Perhaps you hold a memory, deep in your heart, for a favorite teacher in your past. An English teacher who told you that there was a writer inside of you trying to emerge? A music teacher who helped you find your voice? A history teacher who opened the world to you and inspired you to travel and see it all? I imagine that we all have those precious people who graced our lives.

But, who are your spiritual teachers? Who is your Rabbi, Guru, Guide or Sage? I suspect that there are many from whom we have gained wisdom. Those who not only kept the wisdom of the Spirit, but who generously and lovingly shared it with us.

Perhaps you learned Hebrew wisdom through the wisdom books of Job or Proverbs. Perhaps the parables of Jesus opened up doors of understanding for you. Did the teachings of the Buddha or the literature of The Vedas awaken the Spirit within you? Maybe it was some combination of a variety of sources that opened your eyes and fanned the flames of holiness within you.

These sources, rich in spiritual wisdom, anchor us to holy ground and help us to find our path or carve out the one we are called to follow. They also, I believe, build bridges among all of those paths that we can share; bridges where we can walk with each other in the lovingkindness of support.

There has been a long-standing tendency to turn these wisdom teachings into absolutes and to expect that they provide a one-way-only ticket to spiritual fulfillment. But the fact is that we all don't learn the same way. Some need to read, some to hear, and some to do before the learning takes hold. And we process all of our learning through the filters that have developed during our lifetime.

In my coaching practice and in working as an advisor to seminary students, I learn, through them, that wisdom is exhilarating and troubling, joyful and painful, comforting and provocative. And for every answer that wisdom study provides, if the teaching is really rich, there are a myriad of new questions that arise.

It is those questions that release assumptions, allow us to see the world in different ways while they unsettle us. And, in that unsettled state, we are open to grace and growth. And transformation.

It is deeply personal and leads us to the path of generosity, compassion and abundance through understanding. Anything less than that shows us that the lesson is not yet learned.

So — go learn something! Stay curious! Explore! The Divine, with great wisdom, waits for all of us, patiently, to unfold.

Grace-Fully Yours,
Reverend Deborah

Monthly Affirmation: I walk this path with others to the same Spirit-filled destination.

The Reverend Dr. Deborah Darlington provides spiritual coaching and sacred ceremonies to people of all traditions. She can be reached at 215 260 1611 or at GraceMatters@TheSpaceForGrace.com.