The best mantra for discerning the will of God

There is something I find especially difficult about discernment: waiting.

I am much more comfortable when I have an idea, make a decision, and get moving. My usual pattern has been: Get an idea. Act on the idea. Or, to use the old military quip, “Ready. Fire. Aim.” Sometimes that works beautifully. Other times, I have acted simply because something felt right, only to discover later that my inner promptings were not necessarily the voice of God.

Recently, I found myself in a situation where I was trying to discern whether I should lead a retreat. I had plenty of reasons to move forward. I also had plenty of reasons not to. I could feel myself becoming anxious and impatient. I wanted clarity. I wanted an answer. I wanted to do something.

But during prayer, a simple psalm refrain from the Daily Office kept coming back to me:

Wait for the Lord to lead, then follow.

So I waited.

It wasn’t particularly peaceful at first. There were moments of urgency, anxiety, and even panic. I had all sorts of thoughts telling me what I needed to do right now, along with some disturbing dreams. But I kept returning to those words: Wait for the Lord to lead, then follow.

Eventually, something happened that I couldn’t have orchestrated. In my own mind, the time required to put together a retreat had long passed, and I had sadly resigned myself to that outcome. But then the retreat center reached out to me: “Are you still thinking about leading a retreat?”

That was my cue that the waiting was over.

The next steps began to unfold quickly and naturally. The webpage, promotions, and retreat topics all came together in a day.

Then came another affirmation. The retreat filled the meeting room within a week of being announced. A week later, the group that had booked the larger room cancelled at the last minute, so the retreat was expanded to fill the entire center.

Looking back, I realize that the hardest part of discernment wasn’t figuring out what God wanted. It was learning to wait long enough to let God show me.

That has made me wonder how often I mistake my own urgency for God’s guidance.

Sometimes I think I need to make something happen because if I don’t act now, I’ll miss my opportunity. But perhaps faith sometimes looks like leaving the door alone and allowing God to open it, close it, or show me that I was looking at the wrong door altogether.

I’m learning that discernment isn’t always about finding an answer. Sometimes it is about becoming patient enough to receive one.

Wait for the Lord to lead, then follow.

That was my mantra during this tangled discernment. If you’re uncertain about how God is leading you, perhaps you might make it yours as well.