3 minute read
Discernment
d I s CERNMENT PART T w O OF A T w O - PART s ERIE s
PrACtICe mAKes PerfeCt
What elements are necessary to help one discern their path? How can we frame the process in a way that allows us to grow? In this second installment of the discernment series, Alumnus Casey Sterr speaks to the process he uses when contemplating change. *Part one can be found at: bit.ly/DiscernmentSeriesPart1
An Ever-Evolving Understanding and Practice -
▶ From doing to being. Often we hear and read about discernment in the context of vocation or what we do. But I believe the deeper reality is that discernment is inviting us to more fully understand our being, our nature, and in so doing, to let that Spirit within us come alive.
▶ Vulnerability, humility, and authenticity. Our culture values strength and winning. We have come to place vulnerability and humility in the weakness column. But discernment invites vulnerability. In the end, it is actually a sign of maturity in the spiritual life! Oscar Romero, a person I have come to respect and honor for his life and journey speaks to me of this ongoing conversion. In a biography, the authors note: “Romero’s spirituality – his life, his prophetic clarity, even his confusion – reminds us that spirituality is less an effort than a gift, less an individual accomplishment than a discovery of grace in our personal and social lives, less a seeking of ‘saints’ than an unfolding of our own vulnerability and authenticity where the mystery of God pulls us forward.”
▶ Engaging a sense of awe, wonder, mystery, and the unknown. I know that I can also want to have things figured out, defined, and planned. There is a place for this for sure,
–Casey Sterr, Volunteer Alumnus but I do think that I must remain open to mystery! Can I sit in awe and wonder or enlarge my heart and being just to simply embrace the questions and the unknown? I know that one great practice in this for me is reading poetry and gazing up at the night sky.
▶ Companions on the journey. And for me a very important part of discernment is that we have people walking with us. Most assuredly this is having close friends who we can share our hopes, dreams, failures, joys, and disappointments with. And there have been many occasions in my life where I have sought out wise persons – mentors, spiritual directors – to help walk beside me.
▶ It’s truly about the journey, the process, and not the destination. I can be drawn, again, to figuring things out. That thinking that once I get “there,” all will be good. But life, and discernment’s place in it, wants me to engage in the journey, in the steps along the way. What is stirring as I walk?
Practices - It has helped me to adopt some practices that aid in discernment – to give some form. Not to get too locked in to any one way, but to have some sense of a way to engage the elements I note above. The most important piece is opening up to the movement of the Spirit in our lives.
▶ Scripture - I invite you to sit with passages others have passed on to me regarding discernment. Jeremiah 1:5-7; I Samuel 3:1-10, especially verse 10; Isaiah 30:15, 21; I Kings 19:9-13, especially verses 12 and 13; and, Luke 1:26-38, especially verses 37 and 38.
▶ Writing - Simply the act of putting things on paper has always been a way for me to go deeper. I especially marvel at the times when what I write just flows and reveals something deeper – that no amount of thought could have gotten me to that same place.
Casey Sterr volunteered at CAP in 1986-87, living in the Berea House and serving in Jackson County. He lives on his 10-acre homestead near Frankfort, KY.
*You can find “Discernment Part One” in the previous newsletter or online bit.ly/DiscernmentSeriesPart1.
