6. The Spirit helps me come to know myself.
(Before looking at the questions below, take a few minutes to think about this statement. Invite Jesus to speak to you about what He would like you to notice.)
HOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF THE SPIRIT IN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD?
DO YOU FIND IT EASY TO KNOW WHEN THE SPIRIT IS COMMUNICATING WITH YOU?
DO YOU REMEMBER A TIME WHEN YOU SUDDENLY UNDERSTOOD SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF? HOW MIGHT THIS HAVE INCLUDED THE SPIRIT’S PRESENCE?
The importance of self-awareness has been recognized by current research. There is a growing availability of options for assisting our growth in this field. Apps like “Headspace” help focus our mindfulness. Yoga is recognized for its ability to help us notice the deeper places in our minds. Neuro research explains some of the dynamics of mindfulness, awareness, attunement, and more. In Christian circles, meditation has been shown to assist our knowledge of self and our knowledge of God.
Programs exist today that create the space for participants to experience feedback from others about themselves. Alcoholics Anonymous facilitates participants in making “a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” All of these can be helpful in our desire to achieve better self-awareness but, as followers of Jesus, we have the best resource of all--the Spirit of God that lives within us.
We often think of the gift of the Spirit that Jesus tells His disciples about during His final meal with them as applying to our knowledge of God and our walk with God. And this, of course, is true, as Jesus explained in John 14:25-26, “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
But that is not all the Spirit does. The Spirit also works to help us come to know ourselves. The Psalmist David tells us that God knows everything about us; He saw our entire life before we were born, there is no place we can escape His Spirit. David asks God to “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24, NIV). Modern resources for developing self-awareness can help, but the gift of the Spirit in our lives is indispensable. It is the Spirit who lives within us and knows us better than we will ever know ourselves.
The Spirit is not a technique or tool we utilize to help us come to know ourselves; the Sprit is a Person with whom we can converse and be guided into not only a knowledge of our broken self, but into a journey of healing. There are practices that invite the Spirit to help us see and know ourselves. In particular, the Ignatian practice of examen invites the Spirit to help us look at our experiences and notice where we experienced consolation (a place of God’s presence in goodness), and desolation (a place where we experience God in sadness or loss).
In this practice the Spirit also helps us notice ourselves: our thoughts, feelings, and actions. The Spirit is a gift to us and when the Spirit helps us to see and become aware of ourselves, it is an experience of God loving us.