Our Identity In Christ

Our knowledge of God is paradoxically not of Him as the object of our scrutiny, but of ourselves as utterly dependent on His saving and merciful knowledge of us. It is in proportion, as we are known to Him that we find our real being and identity in Christ. We know Him in and through ourselves in so far as His truth is the source of our being and His merciful love is the very heart of our life and existence.

- Thomas Merton in "The Climate of Monastic Prayer"

Creating Space to Dance Together

When we feel lonely we keep looking for a person or persons who can take our loneliness away. Our lonely hearts cry out, "Please hold me, touch me, speak to me, pay attention to me." But soon we discover that the person we expect to take our loneliness away cannot give us what we ask for. Often that person feels oppressed by our demands and runs away, leaving us in despair. As long as we approach another person from our loneliness, no mature human relationship can develop. Clinging to one another in loneliness is suffocating and eventually becomes destructive. For love to be possible we need the courage to create space between us and to trust that this space allows us to dance together.

- Henri Nouwen

Finding Solitude

All human beings are alone. No other person will completely feel like we do, think like we do, act like we do. Each of us is unique, and our aloneness is the other side of our uniqueness. The question is whether we let our aloneness become loneliness or whether we allow it to lead us into solitude. Loneliness is painful; solitude is peaceful. Loneliness makes us cling to others in desperation; solitude allows us to respect others in their uniqueness and create community.
Letting our aloneness grow into solitude and not into loneliness is a lifelong struggle. It requires conscious choices about whom to be with, what to study, how to pray, and when to ask for counsel. But wise choices will help us to find the solitude where our hearts can grow in love.

- Henri Nouwen

On The Journey Towards Hope

The journey towards hope is a deliberate and difficult decision, especially if hope is not a common part of our life and vision. The extreme opposite of hope is despair, and the middle ground is indecision or ambivalence. Ambivalence prevents us from seeing the mystery and hearing the music of life; all is gray, and sameness surrounds us. Despair causes us to see and feel everything in consistently blotted blocks of black. Hope, the consciously conceived child of the desire for more, is parented by the will to dream ever so slightly about a tomorrow, and to let go of what must be cast off from today. Moses, Jesus, and certain prophets wandered in the desert of doubt and despair for as long as forty days. Yet each of them allowed himself to be open enough to be delivered, and ultimately to become the deliverer.
Hope whispers to us: "You are alive and loved, even if you cannot fully feel it." The inhale and exhale of a breath, the blink of an eye, and the yawn of tiredness or boredom remind us that hope is part of the soul yearning to be fully acknowledged. Hope rises from the soul first as a rivulet and then as a great stream. It begins in the daring to sleep or nourish ourselves. Hope is rooted in the soul, watered by tears shed and shared, and given life by us and God. At any moment, therefore, you are at least halfway there.

Albert M. Lewis

Faith In Action

Faith is not merely a belief in ideas or concepts but a belief that moves us to action. The New Testament usage of "faith" derives largely from the Hebrew understanding that "to believe" is to have firmness, reliability, or steadfastness. Faith in action is a steadfast trusting in God and in our relationship with God...
A significant part of our faith is how we live it out daily, for our actions and our lifestyles witness to the true faith we hold. Somehow in our upbringing, many Western Christians have missed the critical link between faith and lifestyle. Faith should express itself in what we eat, how we spend our time, how we entertain ourselves, and how we spend our money...
For faith to grow, we must be open and listening to God through scripture, prayer, worship, music, nature, people, and the circumstances of our lives. Then we must be obedient to God's will and direction for us as we discern them. True Christian faith leads us to involvement with others and sensitivity to their needs.

- Ann Hagmann in "Climbing the Sycamore Tree"

Be Yourself

Often we want to be somewhere other than where we are, or even to be someone other than who we are. We tend to compare ourselves constantly with others and wonder why we are not as rich, as intelligent, as simple, as generous, or as saintly as they are. Such comparisons make us feel guilty, ashamed, or jealous. It is very important to realise that our vocation is hidden in where we are and who we are. We are unique human beings, each with a call to realise in life what nobody else can, and to realise it in the concrete context of the here and now.
We will never find our vocations by trying to figure out whether we are better or worse than others. We are good enough to do what we are called to do. Be yourself!

- Henri Nouwen

All Are Interdependent

'I' cannot reach fulfillment without 'thou.' The self cannot be self without other selves. Social psychologists tell us that we cannot truly be persons unless we interact with other persons. All life is interrelated, and all [people] are interdependent.

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a sermon titled "Three Dimensions of a Complete Life"

Living with Hope

Optimism and hope are radically different attitudes. Optimism is the expectation that things - the weather, human relationships, the economy, the political situation, and so on-will get better. Hope is the trust that God will fulfill God's promises to us in a way that leads us to true freedom. The optimist speaks about concrete changes in the future. The person of hope lives in the moment with the knowledge and trust that all of life is in good hands.
All the great spiritual leaders in history were people of hope. Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Mary, Jesus, Rumi, Gandhi, and Dorothy Day all lived with a promise in their hearts that guided them toward the future without the need to know exactly what it would look like. Let's live with hope.

- Henri Nouwen

Building Inner Bridges

Prayer is the bridge between our conscious and unconscious lives. Often there is a large abyss between our thoughts, words, and actions, and the many images that emerge in our daydreams and night dreams. To pray is to connect these two sides of our lives by going to the place where God dwells. Prayer is "soul work" because our souls are those sacred centers where all is one and where God is with us in the most intimate way.
Thus, we must pray without ceasing so that we can become truly whole and holy.

- Henri Nouwen

From Unceasing Thinking to Unceasing Prayer

Our minds are always active. We analyse, reflect, daydream, or dream. There is not a moment during the day or night when we are not thinking. You might say our thinking is "unceasing." Sometimes we wish that we could stop thinking for a while; that would save us from many worries, guilt feelings, and fears. Our ability to think is our greatest gift, but it is also the source of our greatest pain. Do we have to become victims of our unceasing thoughts? No, we can convert our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer by making our inner monologue into a continuing dialogue with our God, who is the source of all love.
Let's break out of our isolation and realise that Someone who dwells in the centre of our beings wants to listen with love to all that occupies and preoccupies our minds.

- Henri Nouwen

Prayer Is...

Prayer is the way to both the heart of God and the heart of the world - precisely because they have been joined through the suffering of Jesus Christ... Praying is letting one's own heart become the place where the tears of God and the tears of God's children can merge and become tears of hope.

- Henri Nouwen in "Love in a Fearful Land"

The Still, Small Voice of Love

Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, "Prove that you are a good person." Another voice says, "You'd better be ashamed of yourself." There also is a voice that says, "Nobody really cares about you," and one that says, "Be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful." But underneath all these often very noisy voices is a still, small voice that says, "You are my Beloved, my favour rests on you." That's the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen.
That's what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us "my Beloved."

- Henri Nouwen

Interrupted By God

We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions. We may pass them by, preoccupied with our more important tasks, as the priest passed by the man who had fallen among thieves, perhaps - reading the Bible. When we do that, we pass by the visible sign of the Cross raised athwart our path to show us that not our way, but God's way must be done.

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer in "Life Together"

The Spiritual Work of Gratitude

To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives-the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections-that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only truly grateful people when we can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for.
Let's not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.

- Henri Nouwen

On The Journey Towards Hope

The movements of the dance had been large, knees rising and feet leaping beyond their usual bounds. One of the dancers, a middle-aged woman, lamented that she hadn't been able to do it. She found the dance too hard.
Lucy, another participant at the workshop, spoke up. "When we dance that dance, I know I can't do it, my creaky knees just can't take it. But I also know that I can do it." Lucy spoke softly but sounded very self-assured. If tall, thin and young are the ideal attributes of a dancer, Lucy broke all the rules, yet her place as mentor in the circle was transparent.
"When it comes time to leap and turn, I take a step, bringing my foot just a few inches from the floor, point my toe to move forward and gently come down. It's very little, but it's what I am able to do. But on the inside, I am leaping. My experience of the movement is not confined to the limits of what my body can do. I leap as high as anyone here just by being in the circle. When I make my 'little leap,' it continues way beyond the actual space it takes, and I just go with it."
There was silence. We all got it, and eyes all around brimmed with gratitude. Lucy's creaky knees held an unlimited capacity for hope.

- Carl MacMillan

Trusting the Catcher

Trust is the basis of life. Without trust, no human being can live. Trapeze artists offer a beautiful image of this. Flyers have to trust their catchers. They can do the most spectacular doubles, triples, or quadruples, but what finally makes their performance spectacular are the catchers who are there for them at the right time in the right place.
Much of our lives is flying. It is wonderful to fly in the air free as a bird, but when God isn't there to catch us, all our flying comes to nothing. Let's trust in the Great Catcher.

- Henri Nouwen

Neglecting Prayer

In one area of Africa where Christianity began to spread, converts were zealous about daily devotions. They would find their own spot within the wild thickets and pour their hearts out to God. After some time the spots became well-worn, and paths were created. Soon, one's prayer life was made public. If someone began to neglect his or her devotional life, it would soon be noticed by others. Believers would then gently and lovingly remind those in neglect, "The grass grows on your path."

Giving Respect

If you wish others to respect you, you must show respect for them. For twenty days, approach everyone you meet, irrespective of their station in life, as if he or she were the most important person in the world. Everyone wants to feel that they count for something and are important to someone. Invariably, people will give their love, respect, and attention to the person who fills that need.

- Ari Kiev

Growing Beyond Self-Rejection

One of the greatest dangers in the spiritual life is self-rejection. When we say, "If people really knew me, they wouldn't love me," we choose the road toward darkness. Often we are made to believe that self-deprecation is a virtue, called humility. But humility is in reality the opposite of self-deprecation. It is the grateful recognition that we are precious in God's eyes and that all we are is pure gift. To grow beyond self-rejection we must have the courage to listen to the voice calling us God's beloved sons and daughters, and the determination always to live our lives according to this truth.

- Henri Nouwen

The Servant Leader

Our Lord Jesus Christ provided a revolutionary paradigm shift for what a leader should be, turning sort of topsy-turvy the prevalent conventional views according to which the leader is one who lords it over his underlings. Basically they have to know their place. Someone said, "There are two rules in this operation. Rule number one: the leader is always right. Rule number two: in case the leader is wrong, refer to rule number one." It is that we think of the one who leads as a person who uses verbs in the imperative mood. "Do this!" "Jump!" You ask, "How high?" Now Jesus said, in fact, the real, the authentic leader shows the attribute of leadership in a kind of paradoxical way, almost an oxymoron. The leader is the servant. So leadership is not having your own way. It's not for self-aggrandizement. But oddly, it is for service. It is for the sake of the led. It is a proper altruism.

- Archbishop Desmond Tutu in an interview

Stepping over Our Wounds

Sometimes we have to "step over" our anger, our jealousy, or our feelings of rejection and move on. The temptation is to get stuck in our negative emotions, poking around in them as if we belong there. Then we become the "offended one," "the forgotten one," or the "discarded one." Yes, we can get attached to these negative identities and even take morbid pleasure in them. It might be good to have a look at these dark feelings and explore where they come from, but there comes a moment to step over them, leave them behind and travel on.

- Henri Nouwen

Enough Light for the Next Step

Often we want to be able to see into the future. We say, "How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?" There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let's rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.

- Henri Nouwen

The Gift of Friendship

Friendship is one of the greatest gifts a human being can receive. It is a bond beyond common goals, common interests, or common histories. It is a bond stronger than sexual union can create, deeper than a shared fate can solidify, and even more intimate than the bonds of marriage or community. Friendship is being with the other in joy and sorrow, even when we cannot increase the joy or decrease the sorrow. It is a unity of souls that gives nobility and sincerity to love. Friendship makes all of life shine brightly. Blessed are those who lay down their lives for their friends.

- Henri Nouwen

Daniel Webster's Love Knot

Daniel Webster, a 19th century lawyer and statesman, was courting his wife-to-be, Grace Fletcher. As he held skeins of silk thread for her, he suggested, "Grace, we've been engaged in untying knots; let us see if we can tie a knot which will not untie for a lifetime." They stopped right then and tied a random silk knot that would be almost impossible to untie. Grace accepted Webster's proposal.
After they passed from this world, their children found a little box marked "Precious Documents." Among the contents were letters of courtship and a tiny silk knot - one that had never been untied.
Those who know the love of Jesus can boldly say, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38, 39).

- from Clifton Fadiman's "The Little Brown Book of Anecdote"

Spiritual Choices

Choices. Choices make the difference. Two people are in the same accident and severely wounded. They did not choose to be in the accident. It happened to them. But one of them chose to live the experience in bitterness, the other in gratitude. These choices radically influenced their lives and the lives of their families and friends. We have very little control over what happens in our lives, but we have a lot of control over how we integrate and remember what happens. It is precisely these spiritual choices that determine whether we live our lives with dignity.

- Henri Nouwen

Marble Or Grape?

Christians can be like a sack of marbles - unfeeling, unloving, just clacking against each other as they go through life. Or, they can be caring people - like a sack of grapes pressing together to provide a soft, loving place to cushion and comfort each other from the hard crushes of life...
The next time you talk to someone who's hurting and needing some comfort, decide who you'd rather be: a soft, comfortable grape, part of God's refreshing vineyard, or a hard, clacking marble, oblivious to those who are being crushed right before your eyes.

- Barbara Johnson in "So, Stick a Geranium in Your Hat and Be Happy!"

Living the Moment to the Fullest

Patience is a hard discipline. It is not just waiting until something happens over which we have no control: the arrival of the bus, the end of the rain, the return of a friend, the resolution of a conflict. Patience is not a waiting passivity until someone else does something. Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be completely present to the moment, to taste the here and now, to be where we are. When we are impatient we try to get away from where we are. We behave as if the real thing will happen tomorrow, later and somewhere else. Let's be patient and trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand.

- Henri Nouwen

Fruits That Grow in Vulnerability

There is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control, and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. A child is the fruit conceived in vulnerability, community is the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one another's wounds. Let's remind one another that what brings us true joy is not successfulness but fruitfulness.

- Henri Nouwen

On The Journey Towards Hope

Recently, I saw the Denys Arcand film Barbarian Invasions, which won the Oscar for best foreign film in 2003. I won't give away the plot, but the film reminded me that each one of us, as we contemplate our own end, has a hope that our life had meaning, that we made a difference in our world and in the lives of others. This is a fundamental, human hope, nurtured by God.
Arcand's films confront the human condition and the sometimes painful, sometimes crazy or crass reality in which we find ourselves as human beings. In the midst of that reality, he seems to say that God can be found.
I live in a L'Arche community, and sometimes I reflect on the hope that L'Arche people who live with serious disabilities seem to find in their lives. What does someone hope for who cannot do anything for themselves? Henri Nouwen used to speak of the peace he received from being with Adam, a man who could do nothing for himself. It seems to me that many L'Arche men and women have arrived early at wisdom, perhaps even because of having relatively few choices in life: they seem to intuit that in loving relationships where they are simply present to another person they can give life, and that their lives assume meaning and can even be transformative for those who take the time to enter into the relationship.

- Beth Porter

The Spirit's Invitation

The Spirit is inviting, inviting us to overcome our shyness and to discover anew what community in Christ is really meant to be.
The Spirit is inviting us to set aside our idealised images of community, because true community in Christ involves us in all the realities of human relationships. The Spirit is inviting us to attend once again on faithful practices and on being stretched and on our steady, prayerful need for grace in the life we share together. In essence, the Spirit now bids us to enter a form of being and acting that has no limits.
It is calling us to grow in our life with the community that is both fashioned and led forth by the Living Christ.

- Stephen V. Doughty in "Discovering Community"

My Resolution

I won't look back; God knows the fruitless efforts,
The wasted hours, the sinning, the regrets;
I'll leave them all with Him who blots the record,
And mercifully forgives and then forgets.

I won't look forward; God sees all the future,
The road that, short or long, will lead me home,
And He will face with me its every trial
And bear with me the burdens that may come.

But I'll look up into the face of Jesus,
For there my heart can rest, my fears are stilled;
And there is joy and love, and light for darkness,
And perfect peace, and every hope fulfilled.

- Annie Johnson Flint