In Margaret Guenther’s book Holy Listening, she calls the spiritual director a midwife to the soul. Guenther says: “Like a midwife, she (the spiritual director) works with the whole person and is present throughout the whole process. She ‘has time’... she offers support through every stage and waits with the birth giver when ‘nothing is happening.’ ” She goes on to say that, of course, there is never a time when nothing is happening, but the midwife or director is there to affirm that something is indeed “happening.”

I was fortunate to have a midwife attend all three of my births. At my first birth I remember asking, “Why didn’t you tell me it would be this hard?” and questioning why I had decided to give birth this way. During my second birth, I recall exhaustedly yelling, “I can’t do this anymore!” I doubted my ability to carry on, but my midwife gently responded, “You can do it. You are doing it.” The strongest memory from my third birth is crying out the moment my son emerged from my body, and the feel of my midwife’s gentle and supportive hand on my shoulder as I did the hard work of bringing new life into the world.

David G. Benner says that spiritual direction is primarily a “relationship of accompaniment.” I can think of no better metaphor for a spiritual director than that of my midwife patiently waiting with me and encouraging me as my children were born. Like the midwife during labor, the spiritual director bears witness to new life.