Making choices Filled with Life
Discernment Made Simple
DISCERNMENT is one way to make choices AND one that leads to life. When one discerns, one distinguishes, sifts out, and separates what may be from God (Who offers us life in all its fullness) from what comes from egocentric interests or cultural pressures. It is always a choice between two goods.
In a nutshell, to discern…
· is to spend time listening.
· is to admit that we are powerless over our own ability to be certain, to be in control, to have all the answers;
· is to set out on a journey with God, confident that we will be cared for, that we will have all we need, that we have nothing to fear (Ps. 23);
· is to really live life by the choices we make and not allow ourselves to be the victims of circumstance;
· is to actively cooperate with God in co-creating a future full of hope, meaning and promise (Jeremiah 29)
· is to be alert, frightened, surprised, joyful and rooted (sometimes all at once).
MAKING CHOICES FILLED WITH LIFE
A SIMPLE 8-STEP PROCESS FOR Discernment
1. Define very clearly and succinctly the matter for discernment.
2. Gather relevant information.
3. Use your imagination. Picture yourself in a particular situation and note your reactions, feelings, responses.
4. Brainstorm all possibilities; create options for yourself.
5. Pay attention, throughout the process, to what God is saying (through people, in the Scriptures, key events in my personal history. Journal what I discover.)
6. Spend time listing the cons – all the reasons not to decide this option. Note what I experience internally as I consider not deciding this option.
7. List all of the advantages (pros) and keep checking in with my heart. Where do I experience peace? Real life? Hints of joy? An ‘at-homeness’? Energy? Hope?
8. Go with the direction of consolation and expect confirmation/affirmation.
Signs of confirmation could be: peacefulness, things just fall in place, feeling a “coming home to self” (your best self.)
Essentials for good discernment:
- Honesty with oneself …know yourself and share yourself.
- Trusted others are an invaluable help…they hear what we can’t and see what we may have missed. They are wonderful sounding boards.
- Regular, consistent, persistent prayer…real prayer: the real me before the real God.