Friday, April 30, 2021

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Katie Snipes Lancaster

Scripture: Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Spiritual Practice: Discernment
There are so many powers that influence our decisions: whether because of relationships, financial implications, physical limitations, interest, instinct, or now, even, public health considerations, discernment is multidimensional.

The spiritual practice of discernment is to welcome God into the process of decision making. This may be the small decisions, like whether or not to take your dog on the longer walk, or the huge decisions, like whether or not to move across the country. For some, it is easier to let God into the smaller decisions. For others, it is only during the monumental choice-making that we turn to God.

My college theology professor Michael Duffy says, “What you believe about God and what God is doing will have a profound effect on what you hope to see and what you do see when you ask, ‘What does God want me to do?'” I find this to be an interesting starting point: our image of God determines how we see God shaping our everyday lives (and our extraordinary decisions).

How do you see God at work in your decision making process? How do you discern the presence of God as you go about your daily life? When have you had to rely on God fully, in totality, in guiding you from one choice to the next? Where do you see God in the quiet, everyday decisions? Maybe it points back to that poignant Annie Dillard quote, “how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” If we trust God in the small decisions, how much more likely we are to trust God with the huge ones (and vice versa).

Daily Prayer
Holy God, be with us.
Live within us.
Let your spirit alight here.
Breathe your presence within this day.
As we choose.
As we decide.
As we navigate.
As we wander, aimless.
Show us the way.
Show us your way.
Discern within us a path of beauty,
delight, love, kindness,
gentleness, goodness,
faithfulness, mercy, tenderness.
Show us your way.
Amen.