Today, July 31, is the tenth anniversary of my graduation from Practitioner Studies with the Centers for Spiritual Living.
Looking back on the work, reading, studying, and meeting with my fellow practitioner students, I can say it was a very enriching time for me. Also, I knew from a very young age I was destined for a full spiritual life.
My life as a Catholic
When I was around 9 years old, while I was a Catholic, my 6-year-old brother introduced me to his Catholic school teacher, who was a nun. I had decided I wanted to be a nun when I grew up. I pictured myself joining a silent order that prayed all day or served people. Never did I expect the advice she gave me. “Spend the next years listening and obeying your parents,” she told me! I am not sure what I expected her to say, but I know it was not that! Being a pretty compliant child, that advice was already a no-brainer.
My life as a Born-Again Christian
Over the years, I became increasingly disillusioned with the Catholic Church. However, I did become a teacher’s aide and then a catechism teacher to 5th graders. It was shortly after this time that I started to doubt my beliefs. Honestly, I wondered how all their rules would ‘get me into heaven!’ Nor was I convinced that only Catholics went to heaven (a teaching that was implied in the 50s & 60s). Because I knew no other religious teaching, I continued attending Catholic services. Finally, a long-time friend and neighbor came back from college and shared with me the ‘good news’ of the Bible. I became a ‘born-again’ Christian. I started going to a new church based on reading the Bible—which I did for nearly 25 years!
Even though I received a very rich ‘education’ in the Bible, I found that the inclusiveness of the beliefs, compounded by all the unwritten rules, was too much for me. In addition, I had married a man whom I thought was a good Christian. It did not take long to find out that was not the case. Despite my fervent prayers for God to change him, I finally realized I needed to leave the relationship.
My journey to becoming a Spiritual Practitioner
It was only a few months after that that I was introduced to New Thought by a father of my daughter’s friend—no rules, no pushing of his beliefs, just sharing thoughts and books. Nearly two years after I left my first husband, I married this friend. Not long after, we discovered Unity and Centers for Spiritual Living. I knew after the first few weeks with this church, along with the people and minister, that I had found home and signed up to become a Practitioner.
It took me nearly 5 years to complete and become a licensed Spiritual Practitioner, and I have never regretted the journey that brought me here!