Discernment...this seems like a good place to start. What is it? Why should I do it? Is it necessary? To be honest...no, but to be fair and truthful YES! Discernment is the most important part of any decision process, to say we do not discern is hilarious. We use discernment to choose between vanilla and chocolate, hamburgers and hot dogs, waffles and pancakes. I feel like Discernment is a big scary "d" word in the Catholic faith. "If I discern, that means I am going to end up as a priest." While that is possible, it is not a given. You will only end up with chrism on your hands if that is where He wants you.
We discern in almost every aspect of our lives, why should it be scary to discern what we will do for the rest of our life. We make a decision about what college to attend, there are factors at school A that we feel are better than school B, and I really like the campus at school C, but ultimately school F is the school that fits me the best, and that is where I end up. Sometimes the decision is more straight-forward than others, but we still use discernment to make that decision.
Discernment has played a huge role for me in the last few years...it's something I really didn't look at until after I graduated college. Discernment is something I laughed off, disregarded until a big slap in the face showed me that it was going to be a big part of my life. They say God laughs when we make plans; well God must not have been able to catch his breath after I graduated college.
Short run down, I thought I had it planned out. I was graduating, I was now licensed to do what I "knew" I was going to do since the 4th grade. I had a girlfriend of over 3 years, and I was ready to take on the world. That first month humbled me as after over 100 applications I found that almost no one was looking to hire a teacher, let alone a Social Studies teacher. My girlfriend broke up with me, and I was not ready to move back home and live with my parents. I had one good job offer, McDonald's.
I was lucky, I ended up working for the church that helped to give me a great college experience. And to think that coming in as a freshman I was worried I would be able to find/get involved at the Newman Center. I finally had the chance to stop and think about where I was going, and where God wanted me. I realized quickly that He had other plans for me, that He didn't need me as a teacher...at least not yet. I finally took the chance to stop and listen, made my first Come-and-See, something I had truthfully found good reasons not to make or had let schedule conflicts keep me from all 5 years for me. I finally stopped and listened to what discernment really was, and I finally took it seriously. Not everyone gets married, but more importantly I finally took the single life seriously. It started to click why people like Mary Stiller never got married, because they were not called to. They were able to serve Him more fully as a single than tied to a family or a community. I found peace that that one day that could be me, but also that it really wasn't my decision, but His, and I needed to listen closely and carefully. He is not going to shout it at me, "Hey Andy, Go ..." but he is going to give me clues and fill me with an immense happiness and joy in what I end up doing in service to Him.
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