Last night after a long evening of work I stopped by the grocery for something prepared to eat for dinner. Regularly the clerks ask, “Did you find what you were looking for?” It sounds like a casual question, but it isn’t, of course. If the associates have been properly trained it is a spot inspection, a window into customer satisfaction, and a mission-oriented enquiry.
Are we meeting your needs?
Getting the job done?
Accomplishing our goal?
Selling you product?
Likely to see you return?
It occurs to me that the same question is something we could ask ourselves on a regular basis about the way that we live life. But for most of us — at one time or another — and a lot of us — all the time — we are far more haphazard and unfocused in the way that we live.
But which matters most…the chicken scaloppini at Whole Foods, or the way we live our lives? The spiritual life is an intentional life. That doesn’t mean it is lacking in spontaneity, surprise, and play. It does mean that we live with some sense that we have found what we are looking for.
If we are not certain that we’ve found exactly what we’re looking for, we are at least headed in the right direction.
What a great spiritual direction question.