Spirituality. We seem to desire it, even when we are not sure exactly what it is. We yearn for it, even when we can't call it by name. We feel something is missing in our lives, but we're not sure what. We want to get closer to God, but we're not sure how.

Spirituality is a very individual experience, and can be lived out in a host of different ways. But at its core, it is actually quite straightforward. To live a spiritual life is to live in acknowledgment of, and in relationship with, a God of your understanding – a power which, no matter how one may define it, is somehow greater than you or I, in all our human imperfection.

Living a spiritual life involves the awareness and acceptance of some basic principles which have permeated spiritual traditions across cultures and throughout time. It begins with a recognition of a divine power, faith in which gives us permission to embrace these principles – honesty, personal responsibility, humility, forgiveness and service to others. Through spiritual practices, we learn how to rely on God to give us release from the most human of our failings, and to transcend the fears that those failings stir within us. The fruits of these practices – self-awareness, tolerance, serenity and harmony within ourselves, with God and with the people around us – are the goals of spiritual growth.

We do not come to understand or embrace these principles overnight. But through our own experience, and the shared experience of others on their own journeys, we learn to recognize how God is working in our lives, and how we can work with God to achieve our spiritual goals.

At Spirituality Matters, we offer you a safe place to enter into that relationship with God, explore its mysteries, and share in the fruits of a life lived in the gentle and comforting embrace of a power greater than ourselves, a love beyond all understanding.

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