We are currently in the middle of a series about the Wonder of Discernment. So far we’ve talked about the importance of taking time to slow down and spend time with God to seek discernment, putting it into practice, and training our discernment. Just looking at that can seem a little daunting, but there is good news. We don’t have to do it alone. In fact, we can’t do it in our own power. We need the Spirit to help us.


In 1 Corinthians 2:12-14, Paul was explaining to the church at Corinth:


“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”


True discernment comes from God and our understanding comes from Him as well. So to grow in our discernment means spending time with Him and listening to Him.


I love the words that Paul uses in verse twelve, “so that we may understand what God has freely given us.” He has given to us freely. He wants us to understand and then share what we have so freely been given. The Spirit is God’s gift to help us understand. If you want to learn more about this great gift from God, please check out the series of articles on the Holy Spirit on this website. There are so many great blessings that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives, but this aspect of His giving us understanding and discernment is definitely one of the more wonderful ones.


The Spirit illuminates the Word of God in our lives and helps us to understand God in new ways. As Paul described it He gives us not “words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.” Sometimes as we exercise discernment we find ourselves thinking or saying something and wondering “how do I know that?” or “where did that come from?”.  As a believer, our discernment comes through God. The Spirit helps us to understand and gives us words when we don’t have them.


If you find yourself struggling with discernment, go back to where we started in the first article in this series: slow down and spend time with God seeking discernment. He is the source. The Spirit will help us understand and discern. That can’t happen if we aren’t spending time with Him. The more we dwell with Him, the more we will Wonder in Him and He will equip us to Wonder in the Discernment given by Him.

We are currently in the middle of a series about the Wonder of Discernment. So far we’ve talked about the importance of taking time to slow down and spend with God to seek discernment and putting it into practice as well.  This week we will be talking about the value of training our discernment.

In Hebrews 5:12-14, the believers were being challenged about the maturity of their faith:

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

The author of Hebrews was really chastising these Hebrew believers for their lack of spiritual maturity. He indicates that those who are mature in their faith have practiced training their senses with discernment. Discernment is kind of like a muscle. The more we exercise it the stronger it grows. While discernment can be a spiritual gift, meaning that some people have been spiritually gifted with stronger discernment muscles, it is something that all believers are called to exercise. We all need to be able to discern good and evil and be able to use discernment, but we get better at it through practice. We need to train ourselves.

When it comes to exercise, I know there are some people who really love to exercise. For many of us though, it’s not something we necessarily love to do. We may have learned to love the outcome and benefits. We may just know that it’s something that will benefit us. That knowledge might be enough to motivate us to put in the time and effort to exercise and train our muscles and body. The same might be said of training our discernment. It might not always be enjoyable at first, but we are called to do it. The more we understand the importance of discernment the more likely we are to begin to exercise it. Eventually, with consistent exercise we begin to actually experience the value of having strong discernment. This in turn can motivate us to exercise it more.

There is another important parallel in the example of exercising our muscles. When we put work into training and developing our muscles, we grow stronger and we need to be wise in how we put that strength to work. We can use our strength to help others or we can use our new found strength to hurt other people. Unfortunately the same can be true as we train and develop our discernment muscles. We can use our discernment to help others, or we can turn our discernment into something hurtful and condemning. It goes back to the idea that our discernment must be rooted and practiced in love.

So how do we train our discernment? To find the answer to that we can look back at the verses from Hebrews 5 and consider the milk versus solid food analogy. To train our discernment we need to be growing in the Word. Just like a baby goes from milk to soft foods like cereal and purees to increasingly solid foods, we must go from learning basic spiritual truths to deeper and more substantial study of God and His Word.

I also find it interesting that these verses start off with them being told that they should already be teachers instead of having someone “again” teach them the “elementary principles” of God. If all we are doing is going to church on Sunday morning expecting someone to “feed us” spiritual nourishment to last us for the week, we are not practicing our discernment or growing. Practicing discernment and getting to solid food means going deeper than any preacher can go in twenty to forty minutes on a Sunday. We need a steady diet of increasingly solid food.

Instead of still being continually fed the basics, they should have been teaching others by this point. While you need to have some discernment in place to be teaching, interestingly enough the act of teaching itself helps to train your discernment even more. There is a famous quote from Aristotle that says, “Teaching is the highest form of understanding.” When you teach others something you have learned, or are learning, it helps you to understand it even better. Last Thursday, we started a series on the importance of investing in others, especially the next generation. So often Christians are hesitant to share their faith or teach others, formally or informally. Yet, in these verses we see that at a certain point we should be doing exactly that. Instead of waiting to feel like we’re “ready” or “equipped” or “know enough” to be talking to, or teaching, others, at some point we need to just try it. We will never really grow our muscles of discernment until we begin using them.

Last week we started a series about the Wonder of Discernment. We mentioned the importance of taking time to slow down and spend with God to seek discernment. This may be where we start, but the Wonder of Discernment doesn’t end there.

Giving ourselves space to seek God and ask for discernment, and time to think and discern is a great starting place. If we just think about things though, recognize and observe and seek wisdom, we aren’t actually practicing discernment. There is a difference between being discerning and practicing discernment. I can know the wise thing is but if I don’t actually choose to do it, then I’m not really being discerning. It’s like a child who knows the right thing to do but doesn’t do it, or the parent or leader who says, or implies, do as I say and not as I do. In each case discernment is not being used.

In Philippians 1:9-10, Paul encouraged those in the church at Philippi, and us today, with these words:

“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ”

There are several important things that we see in Paul’s prayer for the believers in these verses.

First, that knowledge and discernment work together. They work best with one another. It is possible to have knowledge without discernment, but knowledge without discernment isn’t nearly as useful, helpful or practical. At times it might be possible to have some discernment without knowledge, but knowledge can definitely help strengthen and equip for discernment. Together though, discernment helps to filter and apply knowledge. Basically, we don’t want to just try to stuff ourselves with knowledge and think that will solve everything, but we also don’t want to bury our heads in the sand and say I’ll just ask God for discernment and everything will be fine. Instead we should continue to grow in knowledge while seeking understanding and discernment to apply the knowledge in ways that honor and glorify God and His purpose.

We also see in these verses that discernment is a loving action. Paul prayed that their love would abound in knowledge and discernment. When we get these out of order, things start to go haywire. When our knowledge abounds and that is what is driving us, we can tend to get puffed up. It begins to get easy to lose the perspective of love and instead become condescending or even bullying with our knowledge. Likewise, if discernment is abounding and driving us instead of love, we can easily become judgmental and condemning. Both knowledge and discernment are to be aspects of our abounding love through God. Letting love fuel or drive us, knowledge and discernment can then help guide us and others in ways that are helpful and not hurtful, ways that demonstrate the love of God and principles of truth in love.

Paul also gives us a reason for the importance of this discernment: “so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless.” As we can see when we get things out of the perspective of love, even great things like discernment can become problems. When we keep these in the order that they should be, discernment practiced in abounding love enables us to live the lives that God is calling us to. Lives that honor and glorify and Him, and lives that that reflect His image to those around us.

Discernment is an important aspect of our Christian witness or testimony. It is important for us as believers, as people, and as leaders. Discernment practiced in love sets us apart in a beautiful way. This is God’s plan for us as we follow Him, and it is something that the world around us needs desperately to see.

We have featured several articles talking about the Wonder aspect of Discerning Wonder, but for the next few Mondays we are going to be exploring the importance of discernment. When you look up the definition of discernment, it is the ability to perceive or recognize someone or something. Having discernment is important in so many parts of our life.

The author of Proverbs actually emphasized the importance of this as well when he said:

“My child, don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment. Hang on to them, for they will refresh your soul. They are like jewels on a necklace. They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly.” (Proverbs 3:21-24 NLT)

I have heard many people make comments like “Common sense seems to be in short supply these days” or “It really seems like people don’t have common sense anymore” or even asking “What’s happened to common sense?” As much as it seems like this might be a new sign of our times, it really isn’t. As a very young child I remember hearing people describe others as “not having enough sense to come in out of the rain” and other such things. This is unfortunately a common aspect in life at times.

As much as we hear people talk about and lament an apparent lack of common sense, we don’t really hear as much discussion of discernment. In some ways common sense and discernment go hand in hand, but discernment goes even a little further. While common sense involves recognizing and applying seemingly basic truths and principles, discernment means being able to recognize or perceive deeper truths and understanding. You might say that common sense requires slowing down enough to think before you speak or act, but discernment requires slowing down enough to take time to observe, reflect, evaluate, learn from the past and recognize and apply important patterns and principles.

Maybe that’s why it often seems that common sense is lacking and why we barely even mention discernment. Both require us to slow down a bit. The world around us is so fast-paced. It seems like everyone is in a hurry, and there are so many things demanding our attention, so many things we feel like we need to get done. In our rush and hurry and fast-paced world, are we losing some important things? Jesus modeled the idea of slowing down for us in so many places in the Bible, including in Luke 5:15-16 where it says:

“But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.”

It seems like the busier things got, the more Jesus would take time to slip away into the quiet and pray. That is itself a demonstration of discernment. We know the importance and benefits of rest, but with a lack of discernment we ignore it. We know the importance of time with God and learning to rely on Him and dwell in Him, but with a lack of discernment we ignore that too. Jesus was busy. Crowds were demanding attention. Disciples needed to be taught. Ministry needed to talk place. He had an important mission and a short amount of time, but Jesus had discernment. He knew that to accomplish what needed to be accomplished He needed rest, but more importantly He needed time with the Father so He could know and do the Father’s will.

If Jesus needed this, how much more so do we?  Being discerning begins by stopping long enough to take time to rest and dwell in God’s presence. In doing that we can begin to ask Him for guidance and discernment. When we are rested and pause to seeking God’s wisdom, we are in a much better position to begin to really see things in a way that allows us to exercise discernment.

You might be like me, and none of this sounds really new to you. We know that this is what we should be doing, but we still find it hard to actually find the time to slow down so we can dwell with God. Depending on the season of life we’re in, it can be really challenging to find the time and we might even worry about what will happen if we stop for a few minutes, but I want us to take a careful look at those verses from Proverbs 3 that we started out with:

“My child, don’t lose sight of common sense and discernment. Hang on to them, for they will refresh your soul. They are like jewels on a necklace. They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly.”

Do you see what we’re told happens when we choose to do what it takes to hang onto common sense and discernment? “They will refresh your soul.” “They keep you safe.” You won’t be so anxious as you try to fall asleep, and you will be able to sleep better.

Sometimes choosing to take time to do the hard, seemingly impossible, things are what set us up to be in a better place. My prayer for you today is that you will be able to discern ways to find moments with God and seek His discernment in your life.

This month’s featured book is Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss.

Once again, I was listening to a podcast when I first heard of this book. The title definitely intrigued me because I’m familiar with the overflowing shelves of books about leadership as well as the increasing number of books about anxiety. Putting those two together and talking about Leadership Anxiety seemed slightly unusual though. I like to think of myself as a leader and I know that I definitely have moments of anxiety, but is Leadership Anxiety actually a thing and if so what exactly is it and how in the world do I manage mine and others when I don’t know what it is. That thought alone can start bringing in a little bit of anxiety.

Thankfully in this book, Steve Cuss uses a his years of hospital chaplaincy and pastoring along with tools like Family Systems Theory to tackle the topic of anxiety from a spiritual perspective.  While this book is focused on anxiety in leadership situations, so much of it is applicable to all aspects in life. He begins the book with some explanations and tangible examples of anxiety and understanding it through the perspective of God’s grace. As he talks about the importance of recognizing and examining our areas of anxiety he says: “By paying attention to what was bubbling underneath and managing it, I discovered new levels of freedom and a profound encounter with God’s grace. I experienced genuine spiritual breakthroughs of patterns that had previously kept me stuck.”

Not only does Steve Cuss discuss the importance of identifying anxiety and give hope for the work God can do in our lives as we get to the roots of those anxieties, but he gives tangible tips and tools for how to recognize the causes of your anxiety in leadership and recognizing signs of anxiety in those you are leading. He speaks to causes of both internal anxiety and relational anxiety like the people we feel we need to live up to or not disappoint, blind spots, feeling judged, doubt, dealing with mixed messages, feeling like you’re in a lose-lose situation, stepping on unseen relational land-mines, and so many more. As he spends multiple chapters unpacking and explaining these many sources of anxiety for leaders, I could see situations that I or other leaders I know have found ourselves in.

After spending time unpacking these realities that leaders face, along with the impacts and anxiety that it causes for those around us as well, the author begins to share numerous strategies and tools to for how to manage or deescalate that anxiety. Many of these tools I was familiar with, but was reminded that they are in my toolbox and I should probably be using them a little more often. I was also blessed to be able to have several other new tools to manage relational and leadership issues that can easily cause anxiety for me and others. Tools like learning to pay closer attention to not just content, but to the process of how people are relating and behaving because that is where things tend to get stuck. I was also reminded of the importance of trying to see how I am personally contributing to stuck systems so I can help get us unstuck. Even more importantly than the great tools themselves though, was this reminder:

“The goal of managing anxiety is not simply for relief, it is to connect more fully with God and to raise awareness of what God is doing. Anxiety blocks our awareness of God because it takes our subconscious attention. This means that anxiety can be an early detection system that we’re depending on something other than God for our well-being.”

I found Managing Leadership Anxiety: Yours and Theirs by Steve Cuss to be a very helpful and insightful read. It was full of encouragement, tools, helpful explanations, and challenges to better equip the reader not just for leadership but for life. One of the closing reminders in the book was a quote from a group facilitator that the author works with who said: “This is hard work, but staying the same and not doing this work is hard too. It is just that you are familiar with the ‘hard’ you’re in now. You’ve become so accustomed to the anxiety you carry every day that you don’t realize how hard it is.”

If you’ve not read this book, I would encourage you to give it a read so you can gain some insight, encouragement and tools to hopefully make your life as leader just a little less hard in the future.

As we’ve talked in the last few weeks about the importance of rest and identifying the things we need in our lives, it reminds me of the importance of taking time to reflect and evaluate in general. Reflecting on where we are and where we want to be going, maybe at times reflecting on the past, and especially reflecting on God’s Word are all helpful as we seek to be the healthiest people and leaders that we can be.


In Proverbs 27:19 is says:

“As in water face reflects face, So the heart of man reflects man.”


This is a great reminder for us that our what is in our heart truly reflects who we are. Sometimes we think what’s in our heart is our secret, but what’s in our heart has a way of coming out. In fact in Luke 6:45 Jesus explained it this way:

“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.”

When we find ourselves doing or saying things we don’t like, or more importantly that don’t honor and glorify God, then it’s probably time for some reflection to figure out what sort of unhealthy things have made their way into our hearts.


This idea of reflection or examination can be found throughout Scripture. In Lamentations 3:40, it is stated very directly:
“Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the Lord.”
So not only to we need to take time to take a close look at what we’re doing, but I find that word “probe” very interesting. “Probe” gives us this great image of pushing back at and digging into what we are seeing. To get to the real heart of issues that we are dealing with, reactions that we are having, or why we suddenly seem angry or bitter, we need to do some probing. We need to dig to get to the root of the issue.


I don’t enjoying dealing with weeds in my yard, but I also don’t enjoy a yard full of weeds. Sometimes when I notice weeds, I can go pull them and they pull out fairly easily, roots and all and that’s not too bad. It takes some effort, but it’s worth it and the task is accomplished fairly painlessly. Other times though, even when the weed isn’t that big and doesn’t seem like that big of deal, I begin tugging on it only to discover that the roots are far more entrenched than it appears on the surface. A couple things tend to happen when I come across these type of weeds. If I realize how strong these roots are, I start pulling on the weed a little more carefully so that it doesn’t just break off the part that is showing and leave the roots. Sometimes this careful pulling allows me to sense where the most resistance is and adjust my approach so that I can slowly pull the entire weed and roots up successfully. This takes patience, though, and more effort, but it gets the job done. Other times though, if I don’t realize how deep the roots go right away, sometimes I end up pulling the top part of the weed off, but the roots remain intact. At that point I have a choice. I can begin tediously digging into the soil to try to find and remove the roots that remain, or I can decide that it’s good enough and cover up what remains underground hoping that it will just die off. If I choose the second approach, it rarely works because the weed almost always regrows and when it does the roots are even stronger and harder to remove. It often seems easier to choose that second approach though because the first one takes so much effort and I don’t want to bother, but in the long-run I’m just creating more problems and work because I delayed what needed to be done.


Hopefully, you see the connection here. Just like weeds make our yards become a mess, weeds in our hearts do the same, and weeds in our hearts require much of the same attention, effort, thought, and patience that weeds in our yard do. Here is another connection though: I can help prevent or at least limit the growth of the weeds in my yard if I take the time and effort to carefully and faithfully use a pre-emergent to cover the ground and keep the weeds from growing in the first place. Psalm 1:1-2 gives us insight on a pre-emergent that God gives us for the weeds that might want to grow in our hearts:
“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.”
Meditating, or giving focused thought, on God’s Word and delighting in it helps to prevent the weeds of life from taking root in our hearts. The more faithful we are with this and the more we apply it to our life, then the more it guards our hearts against the seeds of doubt, insecurity, bitterness, envy, angry and more that the evil one tries to sow.


One of the things with pre-emergent though is that it states that for best results existing weeds need to be cleared away. Just like with our yards, just spending time in the Word alone is not enough. We need to put in the work of careful, intentional, patient reflection to remove the weeds that have already taken root in our hearts as soon as we notice them. This definitely isn’t easy, but it is necessary for us to live the lives of freedom, abundance, service, purpose and calling that God desires for us.


James reminds us of the importance of this along with image of reflection in James 1:22-25 where it says:


“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual does, this man will be blessed in what he does.”


So when we start seeing signs that we’ve heard the word but aren’t doing it, it’s definitely time to put the Wonder of Reflection to work in our lives so we can start seeing and pulling the weeds to reveal the beautiful, strong hearts God has placed in us and clear up the reflection we’re showing the world. I pray you will take sometime today to begin to reflect on the condition of your heart, and seek God’s guidance to get to the root of anything that shouldn’t be there.

God’s greatest gift to us was Jesus’s death on the cross to pay for our sins and restore our relationship with God. This one gift would have been enough, but He has given us so many other amazing and undeserved gifts each and every day. I might argue that one of the greatest gifts right after Jesus’s sacrifice is the Wonder of the Gift of Rest.

Scientific research has shown the incredible importance that sleep and rest have for our bodies, our minds, and our overall health. Which once again demonstrates that science confirms what our Creator has said all along. He designed rest for us. It is His gift to us and something He knows we need.

We see this gift of rest come up in the very beginning when Genesis 2:2-3 tells us that God rested on the seventh day after creating the world and everything in it, and blessed that day and made it holy, or set it apart. Then in Exodus 20 when God was giving the recently delivered Israelites some important commands on how to be a new nation of His holy people, he told them to “Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.” He reinforced this in several other places in the Books of the Law and gave reminders of it’s importance through the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah as well.

Somehow though, over the next few centuries this had become a burden for the people. It had gone from a command from God to take a day to rest and be blessed by spending time with Him to a detailed regulation and restrictions that had to be carefully followed. This law of blessing had become a rule of burden. This is not what God intended and we see that in the words of Jesus in Mark 2:27-28:

Part of being able to Discern Wonder includes being able to discern what we need. We won’t have the capacity to discern the wonder around us or lead others to if we aren’t taking care of ourselves. As leaders in church, ministries, homes, and businesses, we have to begin by leading ourselves. We can’t lead others well if we’re not leading ourselves. Part of learning to lead yourself well means using discernment to determine what it is that you need.

Being able to discern what you need starts with knowing where you are in your relationship with God. How is that relationship? What do you need there? Do you need to spend more time with Him? Do you need to spend more time in the Word or more time in prayer? What does that look like for where you are in your relationship with God? What is he telling you in that area of your life?

Beyond that, we also need discernment in our rest. One of God’s commands is for us to take a Sabbath rest. While we find that in the Old Testament and some may say that is a part of the Law and we are no longer bound to it, we also see that Jesus frequently spoke about the Sabbath as well. In fact, He said that the Sabbath is for man and not man for the Sabbath. It’s not about following a legalistic view of Sabbath that restricts and binds us, but more about the fact that we need rest and time with God. Even modern scientific research backs up the fact that we need rest. If you’ve ever had a few sleepless nights, that fact becomes obvious. So we need to use discernment to figure out what we might need to do to help us rest well so that we can be recharged and ready to lead ourselves and others well.

Another area that we need to use some discernment in involves our time. How are you managing your time? Are you using discernment there? Are you spending too much time on work or too little? What about the time you spend in ministry, church, or with your family and friends? Discernment is so important in many areas of our life. When we talk about how to be discerning with our time, I go back to starting with God. Prayerfully seeking His guidance asking Him for discernment and wisdom for what and how He is directing you. I can’t help but think back to last week‘s article about the importance of dwelling with Him. The more we dwell with Him the more He gives us discernment in these areas. When we learn to hear that still, small voice speaking to us and telling us exactly what it is that we need and what it is that He has for us, we begin to see the path we need to walk to enjoy the abundant life He has promised. That definitely should be our starting place: dwelling with Him and seeking Him for our discernment.

Beyond that though, He gives us other tools to help us. The tool of wise counsel can be very helpful as we look for discernment in our time and other areas. Again, we need discernment to determine sources of wise counsel. Figuring out who to go to and who to listen to is important. I don’t know that we want to take advice in this particular area from someone who isn’t living in a way we want to follow. If someone is burned out or making poor decisions, they might not have the wisest counsel for us unless it is pitfalls to avoid.  We can look to people who are setting good examples of the way we want to live. They won’t be perfect examples, but seeking their counsel can be helpful.

There are other tools out there that can help us as well. One example is last month’s book review on Sacred Rest. There are also tools to help us take time to set or evaluate our priorities. I have gone through and helped others walk through exercises of focusing on what it is they feel called to do, how they’re using their time, and whether those priorities and their time management are aligning. This can be a very eye-opening exercise for all of us. We all go through tough seasons and have moments where we’re are living more in survival mode than anything else. During those seasons we’re doing what it takes to get us through, but if we stay in them for too long, we can easily start drifting and losing sight of our purpose and priorities. At times like that, it can be very helpful to take a step back to really think through and discern where God has us and what we are called to be doing. Taking a close look at what we’re doing and why we are doing it can help us realign with the priorities that God has for us.

If you ever find yourself in need of some reflection or tools to help you discern what it is you need, please consider using the contact page on this website to reach out for some personal coaching. I’d be happy to help walk you through some tools to help you lead yourself and others well.

Last week, I reviewed the book, The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team, by Patrick Lencioni. During the next three Mondays, I want to talk a little more about the significance of this great model for understanding ourselves, the teams we work on, and how we accomplish work.

In the book review, I mentioned that when I took the assessment I discovered that my Working Geniuses were Discernment and Wonder and I briefly mentioned that this was part of the reason for the name of this website. On the home page of the website, you can see an article that explains the main reason for the name and I encourage you to check it out if you haven’t already, but I also want to explain a little about how The 6 Types of Working Genius Model shaped this as well.

When I learned about the Working Genius model, I had a pretty good idea of what my geniuses would be and taking the assessment confirmed it. Just in case you didn’t read the Book Review and aren’t familiar with the Working Genius model, the six types of Work include: wonder, invention, discernment, galvanizing, enablement, and tenacity. The Discernment aspect was not really a big surprise for me. I love brainstorming and working with others or even at times by myself to think about various ideas and make them better. Sometimes I do this even when it’s not really helpful or asked for. I’ve been known to be in grocery lines or hospitals with family and friends and start going off on how I think they could be doing things better. At times I’ve been told by whoever I happen to be talking to that I should “Go ahead and go tell someone who works there and not them.” The emphasis definitely being on “not them.” I’m rarely bold enough to take that suggestion and offer the unsolicited advise to someone other than the person I happen to be with. That’s probably due to a number things. One might be because Discernment is a responsive genius and not a disruptive genius. A bigger reason is probably because Galvanizing is one of my Working Frustrations and going up to someone in a business or organization out of nowhere with a suggestion does not give me joy. If I’m asked for my input, however, it does generally energize me.

My other Working Genius was Wonder. Like many people with this genius, I knew this sounded a lot like me, but I’d certainly never really thought of it as a strength, let alone a genius. In fact, my wonder seemed more like something that just annoyed people and even got me in trouble at times. The  Genius of Wonder involves asking a lot of questions. Why are we doing this? Why don’t we do that? Would it be better if we tried this? Why couldn’t we…? What do you think is causing this? You get the idea. I’d never really considered that Wonder is the first part of the process of work. There wouldn’t be ideas or processes or products to discern and implement if someone doesn’t first wonder about why something is the way it is and what might be done about it. Like every Working Genius there are appropriate and not-so-appropriate times for this genius and sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of that.

So when I started brainstorming different names for this website, and was thinking about the importance of us recapturing wonder it reminded me of the Working Genius model. The wonder that we talk about recapturing throughout this website isn’t exactly the same as the Working Genius of wonder. We’re talking more about being open to seeing the amazing things that God is doing and has placed around you. You don’t have to have the Working Genius of wonder to be able to remember how to recapture the wonder that children so naturally have. For me, understanding my Working Geniuses helped me take some steps to recapturing that wonder because I understood myself better and had more grace for myself and others.

So while Discerning Wonder has some deeper meanings, it’s also a bit of a play on words from my Working Geniuses. Understanding this model has helped me. If you would like to learn more or would like to see if it can help you or your team identify your sweet spots in the process of work and possibly have more understanding and grace for yourselves and each other, please use the contact page to reach out to me. I’d love to talk with you more about this great model.

I chose Discerning Wonder as the name for this ministry for a variety of reasons. I'll share some of the other reasons another time, but today I want to talk about the most important one by taking a closer look at those two words.
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Discernment is where we begin. It is crucial in both life and ministry. We use discernment everyday in big and small ways. Throughout Scripture we frequently see discernment partnered with wisdom and are repeatedly called to practice discernment with the help of the Holy Spirit.

We need discernment from God in our daily lives, and while there are many important things we should be discerning, perceiving or recognizing each day I would suggest that wonder is a very important one.

When we're young, the world is filled with so much wonder, but as we get older busyness, pressures, and cynicism so easily keep us from seeing the wonder around us every day.

As someone who has been in church ministry for over thirty years, I've also seen how easy it is to lose our sense of wonder. We start out full of wonder at who God is and what He has done in our lives and the lives of those around us. That wonder and gratitude fuel our passion for our calling and ministry and service.
                   But along the way we get busy.
                   We get stressed.
                   We get burned out.
                   We get misunderstood, hurt and taken advantage of.

We lose our focus on what God has done. We lose our focus on GOD.
We've lost our wonder.
               Wonder at the amazing things He does every day.
               Wonder at what He has allowed us to be a part of.
               Wonder at His love for you and me.

I don't know about You, but I could use more wonder in my life. I want to start noticing the beautiful, the unexpected, the inexplicable and even the unexpected and feel the surprise and admiration, awe and thankfulness of the Mighty God who saves and sustains!