DAY 17 - FIRST CONVERSION

We tend to think of a conversion as something that perhaps happens all at once. In many cases, including young Augustine’s, the conversion comes in stages. The Holy Spirit whispers to him to abandon his previous unguided lifestyle and encourages him on a path that the Lord knows will eventually lead Augustine to Him. He abandons his empty ambitions and instead develops a burning desire for "everlasting wisdom". This moment marked a turning point away from his previous focus on the "vain eloquence" of rhetoric, which he had practiced simply to be prominent (like many of us in our careers), toward the love of wisdom and the first step in Augustine’s desert journey into the arms of the Lord.