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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Canon Rachel Mann

Father Brown

Good morning.

The Catholic writer and creator of the immortal Father Brown series, G.K. Chesterton, told a parable which I find especially helpful at this time of year, when many of us think about how we can change our lives and indeed our world for the better.

He invites us to imagine a fence erected across a road. Two people arrive at that fence and the first says, ‘This fence is in my way’ and decides to clear it away immediately; the second person, however, says, ‘Wait! If there’s a fence here, it must be here for a reason. Before you act, go away and think. Then, when you can tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.’

Chesterton suggests that there are two kinds of decision-makers: those who want to change things wholesale, based on their vision of what they think should be or want, and those who don’t change things until they’ve taken time to consider why the world is as it is, before making a decision.

I find this helpful. I sometimes need to make difficult decisions; I am always tempted to do something radical or disruptive, just to see what will happen. However, experience has shown me that gradual change, grounded in an understanding of context, is often the way to make wiser and better decisions.

For me, the slower, more careful way is typical of what Christians call discernment. Discernment requires time and listening, not only to other people, but to God’s gentle prompting. It requires recognition that I am part of something more than my own narrow self-interests. God of wisdom, grant me the judgment today to think and pray as well as to act; to attend to the interests of others as well as my own.

Amen

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