Tuesday, April 26, 2021
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Katie Snipes Lancaster
Scripture: Proverbs 27:17
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.
Spiritual Practice: Accountability Partner
Today’s quote (above) isn’t exactly inspirational, but it acknowledges the tipping point: we need accountability partners to navigate the waters of life. Do you have someone who you can check in with? Someone who knows how you would like to live your life? Someone who can ask you, “are you living into your commitments?” Do you have someone who keeps you accountable to your ethical responsibilities? Someone who can keep you attentive to who you say you’d like to be?
For me, I can think of half a dozen people who are very close accountability partners, some in more formal roles, others who are longtime friends or mentors. Maybe you can too. But do we reach out to them? Do we keep in touch with those wise and godly companions who point us toward love of God and neighbor? Some people meet with a Spiritual Director. Some with a therapist. Some with a coach. Some have a group, formal or informal, who they share their hopes and dreams and commitments with. Maybe its a spouse? A parent? A sibling? A daughter or son?
The pandemic has squashed our regular rhythms of seeing (or even informally running into) our mentors and guides. Renew your rhythm of talking with your accountability partner: reflect with them. Talk through how you are living your life, how you might want to live more closely to your spiritual and ethical hopes and dreams. And, I trust that there are people who rely on you, too. Renew your rhythms of talking with those for whom you are an accountability partner. We do not walk the way alone. We need one another.
Daily Prayer
God of the good life,
You call us to love,
To live with charity and justice,
To be gentle, humble, kind.
And yet, we so easily fall away.
We find ourselves upside down.
And, we need one another,
Tender conversation to nudge us back,
Back toward love.
Bring us together with the wise, grounded ones,
The ones who guide us, who hear us,
Who usher us toward the life we hope to live.
Amen.