Tod Twist

(Tod Twist is open to receiving new spiritual directees at this time.)

Tod trained as a Spiritual Director through the program at the Franciscan Spirituality Center in La Crosse, WI. He works in building maintenance at St. Paul’s Monastery as his “day job,” and he likes it a lot. He was a grad student in biblical studies for a long time before that, and then a stay-at-home dad before he began working at the Monastery in late 2019.

Tod writes:

After things went differently in mid-life than I thought they were supposed to, spiritual direction was a big part of my learning to live the life that was actually happening for me, as opposed to the life that I thought I was supposed to be living. It took a long time for me to adjust, and I needed others to listen to me as I trudged through it all.   

Aside from marrying my beloved spouse and being blessed with our two children, the best thing that has ever happened in my life is growing in my experience of God’s presence. For me, that experience of God’s presence comes along different pathways—some traditional, some unexpected.

These days, I’m aware of the profound gifts that come along unexpected pathways. When my children were still little, I was thrust into being a stay-at-home dad after leaving grad school, and I had to face who I was while I tried to contribute to who my children were becoming. At the time, it felt like anything but a gift. (Seriously, taking care of my kids revealed a lot of illusions I held about myself.) Now that my kids are in their late teens and emerging into adulthood, they continually amaze me and I’m grateful that I got to be part of who they’ve become even as I continue to be a part of who they’re becoming.

I believe spiritual companioning is all about your awareness of God—and my role is to give you room to connect with that. Noticing where God is working in your life isn’t automatic, though, and a spiritual companion can help unpack experiences where there might be more at work than is immediately obvious. The blessed part in life is that some of the most important things that elude our intellectual understanding can be perceived with the heart.

My hope for each conversation that I have is that everyone involved can move closer to God in some way because we talked. In short, I’m committed to spiritual conversations. Formal spiritual companioning might not be for you right now, but I believe that there’s a spiritual conversation for everyone and a conversation partner that fits. I hope that you find a conversation that fits for you.

‘It’s not the age, it’s the mileage’—or so the saying goes. No one ever told me that the miles could end up being fun and ending up somewhere totally unexpected could turn out to be the best thing for me. May you know God in your journey!