DAILY PRACTICES For God’s People
Chapter excerpts from
The Virtue of Discernment
by The Reverend Canon Charlotte D. Cleghorn
35 pages
Discernment. “Isn’t that what people who are thinking about ordination do?” In the Episcopal Church, that is the standard response to the discernment process, assuming it is for a select group of people around a select vocation. But discernment is so much more than that. Discernment is listening to God with the ear of our hearts. Discernment is about paying attention to God and to God’s dreams and desires for us, in all aspects and areas of our lives. Discernment is separating God’s hope, desire, and will from the clamor of the rest of life.
Chapter Contents
• What is Discernment?
• What scripture reveals about Discernment
• Historical dimension of Discernment
• What are the theological dimensions of Discernment?
• How can the virtue of Discernment be cultivated?
• Tools for the Journey
• Activities for Cultivating Discernment
Prayer
Restoration from Fatigue
God grant me the wisdom of patience. Let me see clearly this day the difference between patience and cowardice, between patience and fear, between patience and weakness. At my moments of confusion, give me the insight needful for Thy purpose in me. Teach me that my fear of impatience may be a mere indulgence. There are some things in the presence of which I dare not be patient lest they destroy and render evil even the goods intent and the holy will. God grant me the wisdom of patience. Amen.
—Howard Thurman