A Simple Practice to Help You Gain Clarity in Discernment

“The Letter” by Edmund Tarbell. (This seems to be a universal posture for reading things over!)

A few months ago I was talking with a friend about life stuff: directions I could go with my business; new projects to take on in my home; future options for various things. “I feel like I need to make up my mind about some of this,” I said, “instead of just sitting with all these unanswered questions.”

The problem was, a lot of these issues didn’t have clear right or wrong answers: many of them were mostly a matter of preference - but they weren’t insignificant. Deciding and following a path was going to take effort. On top of it, many of the things didn’t have clear deadlines. I needed to make up my mind for my own sake, but there was no outside accountability partner demanding an answer, which made it more difficult. 

And the cherry on top? I didn’t actually know how I felt about many of the things. I could see the pros and cons for different directions and was finding it hard to have a pr…