Discern the Lesson

“God has a funny way of showing you lessons…” is one of my favorite opening lyrics to a song by Eric Roberson. Life is a series of continuous lessons that are orchestrated to help us grow in wisdom, character, and for our evolution. The key is being able to discern the current lesson God is teaching you to be able to learn from it, heed the revelation, and move forward. Repeated lessons are provided for us to either have a chance to finally transcend a lesson we keep failing to learn or to cement the fact that we have truly integrated the new wisdom and course of action gained from it. Sometimes it is hard to see the forest for the trees when you are in the middle of God’s lesson plans; which can cause you to overlook what He is trying to teach and instill in you.

The first step is to identify if there is an experience, opportunity, or circumstance that is currently repeating itself that is similar to one you have encountered before. Basically acknowledging if you have circled around this same mountain in the past. Once you identify it, reflect back on how it concluded, how you responded or reacted, and the insight you did not glean from it previously. Bring yourself back to the present lesson, seek God’s wisdom by praying for a revelation on what is the lesson here to teach you then put that revelation in motion by choosing to shift how you approach it this time around. The goal is for you to have a framework to identify, pause and reflect, seek God in prayer, and consciously choose a wiser response to finally prevail. To demonstrate, you are currently facing a repeated lesson being in a new work environment where your leader speaks to you in condescending and tactless language. You encountered this same lesson at the last workplace and refrained from facing the issue head on. You recognize the lesson is repeating in order for you to strengthen your ability to set and reinforce your professional boundaries. After identifying, reflecting, and seeking God for revelation - you respond differently by choosing to have a meeting with your leader to discuss the issue and set a communication boundary to facilitate a better working environment. Sharpening your ability to discern the lesson is essential to your continuous expansion and unlocking your next level.

Joy Gem: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” - Maya Angelou