Who are the individuals in your life that help to refresh, renew and revitalize your connection and union with God? This is a personal question I have been struggling with myself. I went through a geographical transition about two and a half years ago and I haven’t found people in close proximity to me who help me make sense of my journey with God and His people.

I have found that I need others in my life - folks who have access to my inner life and my real struggles or I can drift and become inauthentic. I long for people in my life that help me stretch my thinking and ways of looking at and considering life. I need that one special relationship with another person who can act as a spiritual counselor or director. I need some friends who I can be real around (and they will still accept me) and who also have permission to kick my butt (lovingly mind you) when I really need it (and I obviously can play the same role in their lives). I am at a point where this void in my life is one that I am noticing and it needs attention (it’s beginning to become a dull ache).

Who are the soul friends in your life? Who is the individual (or individuals) who act as Spiritual Guides in your life?

I have begun to really pray about this in my own life. I am taking to heart the following quotes I ran across from the desert fathers…

“Basil (d. 379), bishop of Caesarea, urged Christians to find a suitable person ‘who may serve you as a very sure guide in the work of leading a holy life,’ one who knows ‘the straight road to God.’ Basil warned, ‘To believe that one does not need counsel is great pride.’”

And this saying of the Celtic Christians, “Anyone without a soul friend is a body without a head.” (as quoted in Bruce Demarest, Spiritual Guide p. 46)

May we be diligent in praying for and seeking relationships that refresh.