Ignatian Spiritual Exercises taught me a great deal a few years ago. What I have gathered from my studies on this century old method of spiritual practices is that it is designed to deepen our relationship with God. The exercise requires us daily to places great emphasis on the affective life: prayer, discernment and interpretation of feelings, cultivation of great desires, and having a servants heart. Ignatian spiritual renewal teaches you how to place emphasis on the heart than with our worldly intellect.
You might be asking what does that look like? Well..it might require some spring cleaning. Since we are not all the same, what works for me may not work for you and vice versa. What is prevalent is that we are all (at least we should be) seeking what our true purpose in life is. That purpose comes when we clean house and when find out who we are at the core of our being.
Ignatius Spiritual Exercises taught me to place value on authenticity, integrity, courage, love, forgiveness, hope, healing, service and justice and how to do it. It’s all geared to help you do some spring cleaning in your spirit and walk in freedom.
What Spring Cleaning should look like:
1. Identifying what debris needs to be moved out of our heart and mind? It could be bitterness, hurt, abandonment, rejection. Whatever it is get rid of it so that you can be free to live life the way you are intended to. Psalm 51 :10-11
2. Determine what old thought patterns need to be cleared out to hear, think and move more clearly? The minute you do that all the unnecessary distractions seem to dissipate. Romans 12:2
3. Do some deep searching in your heart to determine who you need to forgive in order to receive our own healing and move forward in our call and our purpose? It could be God, a friend, a family member, and even yourself. Take inventory and pivot. Proverbs 11:2
4. Ask God what are you holding like a badge of honor and blocking living the most authentic version of yourself. Colossians 3:13
So what does Spiritual Exercises do? It teaches one on how to depend our Maker. It teaches one to identify and learn that we can’t and shouldn’t try to do everything on our own. We are not focused on building our own kingdom we are laser focused on building God’s kingdom.
