When I taught in the classroom many years ago, I always found it interesting to watch my students grow. Often, their bodies grew faster than their minds understood. I was often amused at my middle school students clumsily tripping over their feet or reaching out for a glass only to knock it over. They didn’t estimate how long their arms grew or how their legs practically sprouted overnight! Their brains had to catch up with the rapid growth of their bodies.
I’m smiling as I recall my own difficulty dealing with a growth spurt. You see, I grew a whopping nine inches during my sophomore year in high school! I really started to believe that I wasn’t ever going to stop.
I’m reflecting on this as I continue my series on the 7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness by Joe Paprocki. He describes the third key as “the synergy of head and mind working together.”1 This key is “Thinking Before Acting.”
“Thinking that puts the brain and the heart in dialogue is known as discernment. It’s a vital part of a healthy spirituality. St. Ignatius of Loyola used the word discernment to describe the process of thinking before acting. Discernment seeks to align our will with the will of God so that we can learn what God is calling us to do and become. Every choice we make, no matter how small, is an opportunity to get in touch with our spiritual life, as long as we bring thinking and feeling into dialogue,” Paprocki writes.
He goes on to describe “strategies for incorporating reflections or discernment in the decision-making process by: 1) Talk to someone you respect, 2) Find some solitude, 3) Start with what you know, 4) Tell God what you desire and what you fear, 5) Let God speak to you, 6) Know that God has a plan for you and pray to follow His will, 7) Be patient, 8) Prayerfully commit to your decision, 9) Check out the fruits of your decision.”2
Our good and gracious God gives us an example of doing this as He deals with His weak and sinful children, Paprocki says. “One of the most interesting examples of this is found in Exodus 32. God reacts angrily to the fact that His Chosen People have abandoned Him in favor of worshipping a golden calf, knowing that His people were now worshipping something that would diminish Him. God angrily announces that He will unleash His wrath on His people. But Moses engages God in a conversation, pleading with Him to spare His people. This story is not intended to teach us that we can change God’s mind; rather, we see God modeling for us the kind of behavior He wants us to follow, since we are made in His image and likeness. We are called to follow His example and to think before acting, lest we do something that we will regret.”3
By doing what is described here, we are living the reality of doing God’s will for us on a daily basis. By doing so, we will rarely “trip over our own feet” or reach out for a glass and knock it over! Thank God that He is always a teacher, showing us how He wants us to be His vehicle of speaking about His kingdom
1Paprocki, Joe. 7 Keys to Spiritual Wellness: Enriching Your Faith by Strengthening the Health of Your Soul. Loyola Press, 2012. Pg. 31.
Ibid. pg. 36-37.
Ibid. pg. 42.
By Sister Geralyn Schmidt, SCC, Special to The Witness
