I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes.
Psalm 119:59
Gordon T. Smith has written much about vocation and discerning God’s call on our lives. In a recent interview for Regent College he recommends six questions that we should ask ourselves before we begin a process of discernment, especially one that is related to our vocation.
The first question is: What on earth is God doing? Before we discern personal matters it is important to remind ourselves of the larger context we find ourselves in. In Smith’s words, we need to remember that “the Creator and Redeemer of all things is always at work in our world, and in history.” In other words, when we consider the question of what God is doing in our personal lives we should always do so in the context of God’s overall purposes in the world.
The second question is: Who am I?, This is not something we can always presume to know. As Smith notes, “For many people the biggest obstacle to vocational discernment is their lack of self-knowledge.” He adds, “Self-knowledge is the essential precursor to vocational discernment, for God’s calling in your life will always be consistent with how God made you.” An accurate knowledge of self helps us to more realistically accept who we are, and who we are called to be. As Smith notes, “It is a mark of humility and freedom to be able to say, ‘This is who I am and I do not wish to be anybody other than who I am before God’.”
The third question asks: At what stage of life are you at? Our vocation is something that evolves slowly throughout our lives. A person in their twenties or a person in their forties or sixties will discern God’s call differently. At every stage of life it is important to accept both the opportunities and limitations of our age. For some this will require patience. It is unrealistic, for instance, to presume you should be further along in your vocation or in your spiritual growth than you actually are. For others, it will require a healthy acceptance that we are no longer called to respond to life in the same ways we used to be.
Related to this is the question: What are your circumstances? As we ask this of ourselves Smith counsels that,
- The crucial thing is to name your present reality in a hope-filled way. Not nostalgically, not regretfully, but to realize that your vocation is always historically located.
Vocation grows out of the reality of who and where you presently are. You cannot go back to a previous starting point, nor can you fast-forward to the future. Discernment is simply asking the Lord, at every stage of life, “Where do we go from here?”
Gordon Smith’s fifth question is: What is the cross you have been called to bear? Responding to our vocation inevitably requires exchanging other life-options in order to grow into the precious pearl of our “name in Christ.” What are you called to “leave” before you can “cleave” to your new creation? Perhaps it is letting go of your own cherished ideals or imagined futures that represent some of the crosses you must bear in becoming who you truly are in Christ.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, is the question: What are you afraid of? As Smith notes, “The greatest obstacles to fulfilling your vocation are usually internal, not external.” We fear failure. But we also fear success, especially the change and risk that it implies. Once we have named such fears in our discernment we can more intentionally choose whether to let them dictate our spiritual direction or not.
These six questions help create a stable platform from which to seek God in the disposition of our lives. We can then apply the wisdom of discernment to the actual life we are living, rather than to the idealized one we might otherwise be chasing.
-St. Ignatius of Loyola
Rob Des Cotes
Imago Dei Christian Communities
FOR GROUP DISCUSSION:
Take time to write out your answers to these six questions as related to your present circumstances.
- What on earth is God doing? How do you see your present circumstances as related to God’s purposes in the world and in history?
- Who am I? How easy is it for you to say, “This is who I am and I do not wish to be anybody other than who I am before God?
- At what stage of life am I at? How has your relationship to your vocation evolved over the years? Do you feel impatient with the slow progress of your life?
- What are my circumstances? How do your present circumstances relate to where God might be leading you next? Does knowing this help you name your present reality in a hope-filled way?
- What is the cross I have been called to bear? What cherished dreams might you have to let go of in order to become who you truly are in Christ? What do you need to “leave” in order to “cleave” to your new creation? What are some other crosses you are being called to bear at this time?
- What am I afraid of? What fears prevent you from moving in the direction of your vocation? How can you acknowledge these fears as a way of not letting them overly determine your spiritual direction?
If you are in a group, share your answers to these questions with one another.
FOR PRAYER: Pray that you (as well as others in your group) might come to a place of assurance, knowing and accepting that you are where God has placed you. Express your faith that wherever the Lord might lead you next will grow out of this present reality.