ckm_a’s Reviews > Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life > Status Update

"...If you trust in your deep identity as the beloved of God, then your decision will become clear. You’ll be more detached from what others say you should want. What you become won’t be what you expect or what the American culture expects.”

"If we follow Jesus and trust Jesus, then we need to adjust our goals in the direction of downward mobility, not upward mobility.”

"...So I don’t think this will be easy. You may need to invent a role for yourself, and it will only emerge from a disciplined process of discernment. What is most important is who you are. You have to slow down and ask yourself what you really want and what will make you happy and help others to be happy. You need to pray about this."

“It’s a journey. You’re smart & you have a real gift to offer, but you’re focused on a career, & that’s not the issue right now. The real question is: What is the ultimate goal of your life? You have one foot in the secular world as a therapist, & you have always had a deep and dynamic spiritual life. It seems as if you see yourself neither in a totally secular professional job nor in a particular religious role..."

“We cannot, of course, fully understand the ways of God, or even our own ways; we simply cast ourselves into the loving hands of the living God, who alone knows and understands the steps we take. As Henri Nouwen says, “You can’t see the whole path ahead, but there is usually enough light to take the next step.” And then to trust God’s guidance in the moment.”

“Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away”

- Henry David Thoreau

“All the great events of the gospels occur in the fullness of time (as a literal translation of the Greek word kairos shows clearly)...It is in the fullness of time that we meet God and know what we are called to be and do.”

“The world says, “When you were young, you were dependent and could not go where you wanted, but when you grow old, you will be able to make your own decisions, go your own way, and control your own destiny.” But Jesus has a different vision of maturity: it is the ability and willingness to be led where you would rather not go.”

“This is the meaning of passion (“to suffer”)—being the recipient of other people’s actions...The challenge is to see our passion as much as our action as vocation.”

“A way to rephrase “waiting patiently in expectation” is “standing vulnerable in the presence of our loving God.” This is the core of all prayer.”