Trevor Hudson
6 min read ⭑
“I pay attention to two main things: what gives me life and what drains me. My hunch is that the Spirit is on the side of life. I lean toward making choices that will deepen my experience of life and hopefully give life to others.”
An ordained Methodist minister, Trevor Hudson has spent 50 years serving the Lord and the church in Southern Africa. After 40 years of active ministry in a local congregation, Trevor has moved into a season of lecturing, teaching and writing on spiritual formation and direction. Throughout his ministerial career, he’s written over 20 books, including “Seeking God: Finding Another Kind of Life with St. Ignatius and Dallas Willard,” “The Serenity Prayer: A Simple Prayer to Enrich Your Life” and his latest, “In Search of God’s Will: Discerning Faithfulness and Purpose.” Today, he’s giving us a look at his favorite ways to blend food and fellowship, the daily physical habits that clear his mind and ground his body, why he’s forcing himself to say no more often and the meditative prayer routines that shift his whole being toward God.
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
There’s much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?
My favorite meal is at a local Indian restaurant here in Benoni, (the town where Charlize Theron was born!) just outside Johannesburg, South Africa. My usual order is lamb vindaloo, buttered naan and an Indian beer. My wife, Debbie, and I arrive just after 6 p.m., and we linger until at least 9 p.m. Curry here in South Africa is mostly enjoyed with our hands rather than a knife and fork. Curry, conversation and communion — a wonderful way to spend an evening.
Liesbeth Swenne; Unsplash
QUESTION #2: REVEAL
We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So what are yours? What so-called “nonspiritual” activity (or activities) do you love engaging in, which also helps you find essential spiritual renewal?
Almost every morning — dark in winter and early morning light in summer — I get out on the road for my early-morning run. Lasting nearly an hour, I run about 10 kilometers (a little over six miles).
More often than not, at the beginning, my brain and mind are a jumble of leftover thoughts from yesterday and anxious thoughts about the coming day. But after 15 minutes or so, I get out of my head and into my body. Somehow, becoming aware of my breath and my feet pounding the road brings me more into the present. Gradually — though not every morning — gratitude arises to enjoy a day I have not created and a salvation I have done nothing to earn!
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness. Every human too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So, what’s your kryptonite, and how do you hide it?
I take on too much, saying yes when I need to say no. Obviously, this reveals my need to be liked, to please other people and to have a decent reputation for serving others. I hide it by letting people know I have all the time in the world! Then resentment and weariness begin to make themselves known and become ignition lights for me to reflect on my patterns of behavior. So now, at the age of 73, as the new year looms, I ask for grace to be wiser while I plan the coming year.
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your current obsession? And why should it be ours?
I am learning that we might offer our most significant contribution to God and the world when we are over 70. I am somewhat surprised. Just when my professional life was coming to an end, it seemed to take a turn toward adventure — making a documentary of Ignatius in Manresa with my Jesuit friends, taking people through the 30-day spiritual exercises at a nearby Carmelite monastery, accompanying folk from around the world on their journeys with God, training others in spiritual direction and pastoral therapy and lecturing at universities. I feel profoundly graced.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Cashiers, CEOs, contractors or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?
I pay attention to two main things: what gives me life and what drains me. My hunch is that the Spirit is on the side of life. I lean toward making choices that will deepen my experience of life and hopefully give life to others. And then, to use Howard Thurman’s words, I listen to “the sound of the genuine” within my life. How can I live more genuinely, with greater transparency, facing reality a bit more honestly? Again, my hunch is that the Spirit is on the side of reality rather than illusion.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied habits that open our hearts to the presence of God. So let us in. Which spiritual practice is working best for you right now?
I go to my little room, light a candle, find a comfortable posture in my chair and arrive. Beginning with my feet and moving upward, I become aware of my body. After a few moments, I consecrate myself to God with a simple prayer: “Direct my whole being to your praise and glory and into your great love.”
Then simply saying the name Jesus, I focus my heart and mind on my hands, which are always in the present. The timer goes off after 20 minutes. I take time to ponder my Scripture for the day and share verbally with God whatever is on my heart, not to give God information but rather to give him access to what’s happening in my life at the moment.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Looking backward, considering the full sweep of your unique faith journey and all you encountered along the way, what top three resources stand out to you? What changed the game and changed your heart? What radically altered your life? What changed your reality?
My favorite South African is Desmond Tutu — his writings and friendship opened my heart to the immense suffering in our midst. Dallas Willard, a philosopher, opened my heart and mind to the reality of God’s kingdom available to us where we are. And Dr. Iain McGilchrist and his groundbreaking work on our brain’s hemispheric thinking in “The Master and His Emissary” encouraged me to pay more attention to my intuitive, embodied and imaginative responses to life around me.
We all have things we cling to to survive (or even thrive) in tough times — times like these! Name one resource you’re savoring and/or finding indispensable in this current season, and tell us what it’s doing for you.
I regularly have supper with the woman to whom I have been married for 43 years. We light a candle, hold a Quaker silence for about three to four minutes as we keep those we know who are suffering in our hearts before God, and then enjoy a simple meal together with a glass of red wine. It’s a sacramental time of friendship, faithfulness and enjoying a simple meal. A time of real sustenance as we face the daily challenges of living in a country of tragic beauty.
QUESTION #8: dream
God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
My dream for the future is that I will learn to become more deeply present to whatever is before me — my partner in marriage, the beauty of the garden, my suffering neighbor and the task with which I am engaged. And as I become present to life in all its beauty and brutality, I want also to learn how to live a more hidden life, accompanying those younger behind the scenes and offering whatever I can to them so that they live their own lives more deeply and more faithfully!
What’s the value of a hidden life? The world might say, “Not that much,” but God gives us a different picture.
Take Anna. She spent most of her life hidden away in the temple, fasting, worshiping and praying fervently for the Messiah to come. And then one day, she saw him — a tiny baby in his mother’s arms. She told everyone she could about this baby Savior.
Or look to Charles Spurgeon as another example — or rather, the 100 unnamed people who prayed for him during every service in the church’s boiler room. Because of their faithful, out-of-the-limelight prayers, nearly 10 million people heard the gospel throughout Spurgeon’s lifetime (not to mention those impacted by his words long after his death).
A hidden life is by no means an insignificant one. Far from it.
Trevor Hudson has been part of the Methodist movement in Southern Africa for 50 years. Since stepping away from active pastoral responsibilities, he’s given his time to lecturing, writing, retreat-giving and spiritual companionship. He lectured on the D.Min. program In Spiritual Direction at Fuller Seminary and continues to work with the Jesuit Institute in South Africa, the Renovare Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation and the Martin Centre at Westmont University. He’s written over 20 books, the most recent being In Search of God’s Will: Discerning Faithfulness and Purpose (NavPress). He is married to Debbie, and their children are Joni and Mark.
