Devotional from Pastor Dave January 24, 2024

One of my favorite columnists in The Christian Century magazine is Debie Thomas. She is a minister of discipleship at a church in California. In the February issue, she wrote an article, “Metaphors for the spiritual life,” in which she describes a prompt she likes to give her students in writing workshops: “Choose a metaphor that characterizes your spiritual life and describe why it’s meaningful to you.”

Some of the metaphors the students turn to are scriptural, like abiding on the vine or taking up the cross. Some are athletic, like running a marathon or wrestling or boxing. Some are more artistic, like sewing a quilt or shaping clay. Some are more contemplative, like stillness, silence.

She goes on to describe some of the metaphors that she’s drawn on in her own spiritual life. Years ago, as she was outgrowing and deconstructing the faith of her childhood, she described her spiritual life as being like peeling an onion, and she worried that when she finished peeling there would be nothing left. Later, she landed on the metaphor of being an excavator, as she was sifting through the wreckage and salvaging the treasures and resources that remained. She returned to this question again recently and discovered that a metaphor that she at least aspires to be is a bridge, “to help people cross over. From peeling to living, from rubble to treasure, from deconstruction to restoration.”

I am captivating by her question, and I’ve been contemplating what metaphor I would choose to characterize my spiritual life. Even though I often feel like I am in a boat adrift on choppy seas, the image that has come to mind that maybe I am aspiring to become is an anchor that holds steady in the midst of the storm. Maybe it’s because I have a son at Vanderbilt and they like to say “anchor down” a lot over there! But I’m also remembering the words to one of my favorite hymns. “In every high and stormy gale,” we sing, “my anchor holds within the veil.”

So what about you? What metaphor would you choose to characterize your spiritual life right now, and why? 

Try to find someone to share your metaphor with, and see if they have a metaphor that they would choose to describe their spiritual life. And if you’re comfortable sharing, I’d love to hear what your metaphor is, as we all seek to grow in our spiritual life and faith in Christ.