W.E. Krill, Jr. M.S.P.C.

    Webster’s defines ‘discernment’ like this: “The quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure.”  The process of spiritual discernment is work; it may not be as much of the case that what God is communicating is obscure rather than our inherent limitations and laziness in understanding God’s desires for us.

    We can often see the hand of God in hindsight, maybe years or decades later once we have gathered some important experiences and wisdom. The art of discernment, though, is to pay attention to what is being asked of us in the here-and-now. Since most of us crave intimacy, but want it only on our own terms, it is not a mystery as to why we may avoid working at discerning what God wants from us. Like the small child who knows the directive to pick up their toys is coming, we often do everything in our power to avoid the directive. Or, like the child who is angry and hurt, pushing away the loving and comforting arms of the parent.

    Spiritual discernment does take courage and the ability to ‘hold on to yourself’ emotionally. It means making yourself available to listen God, and this may include listening to a variety of people in our life, since God often speaks through those around us. Grasping and comprehending requires a good bit of grappling and analysis on our part. And that is work. And yes, I am lazy.

    So how do we know that the conclusion we arrive at is a result of spiritual discernment and not just our own imaginings? Spiritual discernment usually results in discovering an uncomfortable truth: being called and not wanting to be called, intense unexplained enthusiasm, willingness to face great odds and tremendous work, feeling an internal compulsion that is not readily of our character, and, not in the least, some kind of suffering. This may be that we give up time or money, turn over our own will, put ourselves our there for ridicule, or find that we have made huge errors in relationship that we must address with our own self confrontation and growth.

    Don’t fear discernment; if you engage in it, you will grow in ways that will enable you to carry out the conclusion, and you will be not walking alone.