To kick it off, thought I'd talk about discernment. Yep, that word that is so commonly used in Christian circles and which everyone seems to talk a lot about but not know a lot about what it involves.
So just what does discernment involve? Well as one of my friends once said, it involves trying something to see if it is what you are truly called to.
While that might seem simple to understand, it's the practicing of it where most people struggle. I know personally that discerning things- like previously in life as to where my vocation should be, or what path my career should take- has always been hard as I thought that if I spent time in a place where I was just trying stuff rather than actually doing something worthwhile, I'd be wasting time I could be using to make a difference.
The truth is though, you would still be wasting time doing stuff if you didn't discern, because there'd be a high chance that you'd just be going through the motions with things and the effort wouldn't be there.
Instead of seeing discernment time as time spent doing something not worthwhile, we need to start seeing the time of discernment as a time to really learn whether something is good or not in accordance to God's plan.
Earlier this year when I was looking to work in Youth Ministry, I thought that was the only path and when I didn't get there, I got frustrated. The truth is though, that if I had taken that time as a time of discernment, I would have realised that this was just God showing me that there was another way of doing things, which as I know now, while challenging, is highly rewarding and where he calls me to be.
I've also started to realise that the last few years of being on NET, were not just about me changing lives, but they were about me learning skills for the much larger and harder task ahead that God has for me- which at this moment is about being a faith filled disciple in a highly secular world. I needed the time away to train and be molded into the person who could be that light in the darkness- but if I hadn't taken the chance to discern a path of youth ministry and helping those who feel at a distance from the church, I'd have never known this.
We all need to try things- whether it's religious life, career, life initiatives- if we didn't try, we wouldn't know what works and what doesn't. We also wouldn't realise what gifts God has given us and how we can use them to do his will in our lives.
There's one destination God calls us to but it's filled with ways to get there and he will work with whatever path we decide to take. The key for us is to be open to the avenues presented and to not be afraid to take a shot in the dark- because while it may not be where we are meant to be, it will leads us towards our true goal on this earth.So here's my call out to you. If you have a passion or a strong sense in your heart to do something, rather than just sit there and think about it, go out there and discern. You will be at no greater loss in God's eyes if you do decide to take the chance and it doesn't work out, but you will always have a greater understanding of God's plan and how to live it, and that's what life is all about.
Till next time...
