Spirituality Part 6

Changing for others

We've taken a nice little stroll through Spirituality for the past few months together, and I'd like to thank you all very much for our time together.
This is will be my last article on Spirituality for a while and it's possibly the most important. Together we've learned how to read the Bible and address how we feel about the passages we read, we've asked questions to why we might feel this way, we've learned that we'll all be different in our Spirituality, and we've taken on board the views of others when we reflect on how we might feel about things. Phew, we've done an awful lot. So how is this part the most important?

Spirituality can't exist in a vacuum. Just like my toys strewn across the floor of my childhood bedroom, the ones sucked up by the Hoover just aren't of any use to me. We need to get them out of there and back where they belong (not the toy box, just back on the floor where they can all play together).

One great tool in developing Spirituality is to write a letter. In letters we can spend hours explaining what we're feeling. In writing a letter to someone we're allowing ourselves to be known to another person, just as we've been trying to get to know ourselves.
Those of us who have taken the time to grow ourselves in journals and have actually taken a long, hard look at who we are, we're okay with sharing our lives and our thoughts with other people. This is one sign of spiritual growth. That we aren't afraid of who we are in God.

And writing a letter in itself can pose a problem. I used to be ashamed of my handwriting, it looked the same as when I was a schoolboy and used to have to put my finger between the words. But I knew how important it was to be able to share my thoughts and my life with others. So I undertook a great spiritual exercise. I practised writing every day so that I could send people letters. I didn't do this so that I would look fancy, I leave that to my barber and tailor, but because my handwriting was a barrier to my sharing with others.
I changed something about myself so that I could share myself with others.

And this is the most important part of our spiritual journey: It's not enough to recognise how we are, it's finding the strength to change those parts of ourselves so that we can be included in the lives of others. I'm not talking about self-improvement for our own sake here, like being able to run faster or give better quiz show answers, I'm talking about taking what we've learned of ourselves on our spiritual journey, and being brave enough to love other people. We might need to change, but we're all loved enough to face that together.