metaphor >noun 1 a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable (e.g. food for thought). 2 a thing symbolic of something else. -ORIGIN from Greek, from metapherein ‘to transfer.’
As preparation for an initial spiritual direction meeting, I usually ask the spiritual directee to think about several questions ahead of time. Such questions may include:
- What is your most memorable spiritual experience, if any?
- What obstacles do you face in your relationship with God?
- What are your metaphors of what God is like for you?
The metaphors, the God-descriptors, that are named are creative – inviting an expanded understanding of both the chosen metaphor and of God. They are experiential – connecting God to part of one’s own lived experience. And they evoke wonder and mystery because we realize that we have no other words to describe God’s being except by metaphor.
[Eric Massanari, “Speaking in the Spirit’s Tongue” in An Open Place: The Ministry of Group Spiritual Direction, Marlene Kropf & Daniel Schrock, eds., (New York: MorehousePublishing, 2012), 111].
One of my metaphors for God is Midwife. Elsie and Evelyn were the midwives for the pregnancy and birth of my second child. Elsie was aged and creaky; her niece Evelyn was young and bendable. Together they were wise and challenging, fast-acting and patient, twinkly-eyed and serious. Their job was not to do the work for me, but to be with me. That’s how I continue (for the most part) to experience and wonder about God, as God-with-me.
The following quote helps me see another value in metaphors:
“Rather than naming the things we think we can grasp, metaphors help us name the mystery that grasps us”
[Ibid., 111].
May we all become more aware of that Mystery.
God is the water on which I sail my boat. If I lose contact with that water my vessel comes to a dead stop.