A few weeks ago I traveled to Santa Fe to spend a week at Ghost Ranch, a beautiful desert conference center owned by the Presbyterian Church, USA. The purpose of my trip was to retreat and intentionally engage my spiritual life by taking the course, High Desert Spiritual Quest. I spent the week with 16 other pilgrims hiking gorgeous canyons, viewing ancient petroglyphs and pictographs, praying with the brothers at Christ in the Desert Monastery, offering gratitude to the Spirit in a Native American sweat lodge ceremony, camping solo in the sage-filled desert, and laughing and playing as we kayaked down the Chama River. Interwoven in our activities were intentional times for reflection and sharing together as a community. This is spiritual formation.

One of my fellow retreatants was Nate, a 13-year-old boy who was living at the ranch during the summer with his mother who was on staff. Nate and I bonded as we told jokes, talked about life, and shared about faith. As I wrote in my journal each day the moments for which I was most grateful, I began to recognize that time spent hanging out with Nate was consistently a place of deep gratitude. It reminded me of my years as a minister at Oakhurst Baptist Church and how life giving it was to provide opportunities for spiritual formation with adolescents. Nate and I had become friends, and I was reminded that an important part of my spiritual journey is walking alongside young people in their faith journeys.

Engaging in spiritual formation is to seek to understand our vocation or call. But vocation is not about what we do such as a job or career, but rather a way of being in the world, the essence of who we are, that which we have been created by God to be. The spiritual life is one marked by a desire to respond to the simple, yet not easy question: “Who am I created to be in the world?” Spiritual formation is a way of inviting individuals, groups, and communities to listen for God’s call and to live fully into that call.

We know we are living God’s call for our lives as we experience more freedom, energy, life, and abundance. In talking about this call, Howard Thurman says, “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Spiritual formation is about being fully alive and fully who God has created us to be. It is a journey toward the true self, as Thomas Merton calls it. It is listening to our inner wisdom, that manifestation of God that is in all creation, including each one of us. Spirituality is about peeling away the layers of who we are not, and living abundantly as Beloved ones created in the image of God.

Some months ago I asked the board of the Alliance of Baptists if I could shift to part time ministry focusing my work in endorsement, search and call, and the Convocation. Through prayer and listening to my inner wisdom, I realized that I longed to live my call more fully by returning to my work as a spiritual director, retreat leader, ritual crafter, and discernment guide. So on July 1, I began working three days a week with the Alliance and launched Illuminating Paths, a practice of accompanying individuals, groups, and communities on their spiritual journeys. As I offer ministry through both the Alliance and Illuminating Paths, www.illuminatingpaths.com, I become more fully alive and live more fully into God’s call for me. This is a gift of spiritual formation.

On the last night of my high-desert spiritual quest, my new friends and I sat around a table where we shared reflections, stories, and bread and wine. As part of a Native American tradition we ended our time together in a “give away.” Each of us was asked to give away something as a symbol of what we wanted to let go of in our spiritual journeys or offer to others. I felt the Spirit inviting me to give away my ring, a ring that I had designed many years ago and was a symbol of great hope for me. With both reluctance and freedom, I placed the ring on the table. After each gift was given away, we were each invited to take one of the symbols as a reminder of our quest together. I watched as young Nate approached the table, spoke of a desire for hope in his life, and placed the ring on his finger. I was filled with gratitude for the powerful work of the Spirit.

The theme of the 2010 Convocation in Monterey, Calif., July 29 – Aug. 1, will explore spiritual formation in the lives of individuals and communities. Mark your calendars and plan to be a part of this transformative experience.