Becoming Curious: A Spiritual Practice of Asking Questions

Curiosity is essential to growth. A little curiosity moves us deeper into the lives of the people around us. A little curiosity leads to opportunities we never knew existed. A little curiosity helps us understand our own strange emotions. A little curiosity, if focused on Jesus, will make us more like him. Pastor and spiritual director Casey Tygrett loves to ask questions. "There's a difficult line to walk between what we need to know and what falls into the realm of mystery," he writes. "Walking that line often wears on our nerves and causes incredible tension, and so we settle for easy answers. We stop asking questions. We give up. We begin to lose the one thing that fiercely energizes the transformation of our souls--something beautiful, poetic, joyful, and happily disruptive: curiosity.? When we make curiosity a spiritual practice, we open up to new ways of knowing God and knowing ourselves as well. Come and discover the power of asking questions.

James Bryan Smith (MDiv, Yale University Divinity School, DMin, Fuller Seminary) is a theology professor at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, and a writer and speaker in the area of Christian spiritual formation. He also serves as the director of the Apprentice Institute for Christian Spiritual Formation at Friends University. A founding member of Richard J. Foster's spiritual renewal ministry, Renovaré, Smith is an ordained United Methodist Church minister and has served in various capacities in local churches. Smith is also the editor of A Spiritual Formation Workbook, Devotional Classics (with Richard Foster), Embracing the Love of God, Rich Mullins: An Arrow Pointing to Heaven and Room of Marvels.

Casey Tygrett (DMin, Lincoln Christian Seminary) is a pastor, blogger, adjunct seminary professor, and spiritual director who serves as the teaching pastor at Heartland Community Church in Rockford, Illinois. He was previously pastor of spiritual formation at Parkview Christian Church in Orland Park, Illinois, and has taught at Lincoln Christian University and Seminary and Emmanuel Christian Seminary. He is the author of The Jesus Rhythm, and has written for The Christian Standard, TheOoze.com, and the Apprentice Institute blog.