Oh no! Discernment, again?

Here it is October and I am dealing with the same thing I was dealing with in January. Time's relativity becomes more pronounced when going through something like this. In other words, my how ten months can fly by!

So, 2025, among other things (it has been challenging in numerous ways) has been a year of discernment. Just when I think I'm set on what I am going to do, another tectonic plate shifts and I find myself reassessing. All along, my deepest desire is to do what God wants me to do.

I have never been one of those who thinks God will be displeased with me for making the best decision I am capable of making given what I have to go on and my own limitations. God is kind if not "nice," as a recent book pointed out. And so, I find myself again exploring a different course.

Good discernment requires me not to make a big change for the sake of novelty. It also requires me not to remain where I am because it's what I know and where I am comfortable. These concerns constitute for me the boundaries of discernment. Since I am responsible for the support of other people, I need to ensure that I can meet those responsibilities.

When it comes to money, it's important to do the math. As every true adult knows, life is expensive and it isn't getting any cheaper. In the present climate, getting the cost of living under control is on no one's list of priorities. Jesus alludes to the prudence of calculating the cost before undertaking a major building project (see Luke 14:28-30). Part of this consideration is really analyze my expenses.

Ending a reasonably successful career to embark on a new journey for the last 5-7 years of my working life is no small undertaking. Yet, I think that is what I just might do. This has been the back-and-forth of the past nine months.

In January, had two opportunities presented to me quite unexpectedly. One, the opportunity to teach at a seminary just wasn't possible for personal and family reasons. In all honesty, that would've been the fulfillment of a dream. The other opportunity keeps presenting and re-presenting itself to me in different ways.

It's the persistence of these re-presentations and the convergence of circumstances that have me once again discerning with an eye toward making a change. I am grateful I have had the time. Oftentimes, you have to make such consequential choices in far less time. But then, it may be the case that I have taken too long.

When it comes to my own affairs, I am very conservative, to state the matter mildly. I admire people who are willing to take risks. I think upbringing has a lot to do with shaping us in these matters.

With this, I have posted 121 times this year. That is as many posts as I had in 2021. In 2022, 2023, and 2024 Καθολικός διάκονος waned rather than waxed. Posting with this regularity feels normal. This small effort remains for me a labor of love. I also see it as an extension of my ministry. I am on track to post between 150-160 times this year.

I have been mildly surprised at the modest popularity I am currently enjoying. I'd be lying to say I didn't take some satisfaction in that. I hope those who read what I write find it benefical, encouraging, challenging, and, once in a while, amusing.

Things around here have been religious lately. This, of course, is far from a bad thing. I am spiritual because I am religious. Our traditio is an oldie but a goodie: The Clash "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" Since I needed a twist, I went with KT Tunstall's for our Friday traditio.