Process vs. Content

Often times I feel that we get hung up in the content, when the process may be speaking more loudly.  Take a therapy session for example.  A client may say lots of things, or may be venting, and what they are venting about may be of less significance then their need to be heard.  Or take therapy with children as another example, the session may be full of play, full of laughter, and not full of much dialogue.  But the process of play may have spoken louder to the child than any amount of words could.  As yet another example, take my relationship with Charissa, my wife.  If she has a hard day she may need to vent, and my response to her content may be much less helpful than my being present with her in her process.

In my own relationships, I don't want someone who wants to teach me so much as enter on this journey with me.  I desire people to live by me side by side, walking on to the truth, in honesty, in asking the hard questions, in reflection, in growth, in good times, in bad.  This one of the reasons why I like music so much, it doesn't judge, it just is.  I get to listen to others pouring out their hearts, connect with it, resonate with it, let it affect me.  I may never meet the artist or musician, but for that moment, we connect.  Music encourages not to worry about the end result so much and just enjoy the moment.  Music is mysterious, encourages me to enter into mystery.  How is it that the sound coming out can affect me so?  To me the question isn't as important as just letting it speak to me.

If we think about growth in the spiritual life, or in life in general, I believe the topic of process vs. content can be relevant too.  I believe in the spiritual life, we need both good content and process.  Content might teach me accurate theology, but process helps me to incorporate this theology into my life.  Process gives me the freedom to try out a new idea, to see the results and to learn from it.  God himself is the content, and the way he interacts with us is the process.  Growth happens through the process of gradually trusting him more, of gradually letting his grace speak into deeper parts of our lives, of making this grace more and more our home, more and more the grounding of our being.  It isn't a one time thing, it's a life long journey of growing character.  And if we allow God to speak to us through the process, it can continually refine the content we believe.