Rut or Rest?

“I just wish God would tell me clearly what to do,” said one of the participants in our spiritual direction group. “I don’t know which direction to turn and I really do want to be obedient.”

I certainly could identify and empathize with that statement. With all my being, I do want to follow God’s path for me in life. Discernment is more than just making a decision: it is taking God’s view into account, not just our wants and desires. 

To discern comes from the Latin word, discernere:  dis means apart and cernere mean to separate:  So we look at all the options before us and we separate them apart for find the answer.

I am in discernment right now. I can’t decipher if I am in a rut or a time of rest. 

I think I hear God telling me just to rest, but my natural tendency so to make a decision and get on with my journey.

Have a missed the bus or am I to linger longer at this spiritual rest stop? If God is in all things and I do believe that, just what is He trying to teach me here?

Then I read the other day this quote:  

“According to legend, there is a sign at the beginning of the Trans-Alaskan Highway which reads, "Choose your rut carefully; you'll be in it for 1390 miles!"

Great! If this is rut, it will be long cold trip. Or one amazing adventure.  Can you see my split personality here? One side feels trapped in a dark dreary hole and the hopeful optimist portion keeps searching for God in the midst of this trench.

I pray.

I listen.

I journal.

I wait.

I hope.

I listen again.

Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths. Psalm 25:4 -  (NIV)

I am curious: Anyone else feel stuck in a rut? How do you discern your next step when the reality you are in isn’t very clear?