Home

I am reading Lifesigns by Henri Nouwen and I came across this piece this morning.  It especially spoke to me because of the number of people who recently lost their homes in tornatoes.
   "Probably no word better summarizes the suffering of our time than the word "homeless."  It reveals one of our deepest and most painful conditions, the condition of not having a sense of belonging, of not having a place where we can feel safe, cared for, protected and loved.
   The first and most obvious quality of a home is its intimacy.  When we say: "I do not feel at home here" we express an uneasiness that does not permit intimacy.  When we say: "I wish I were home" we express a longing for that intimate place that offers us a sense of belonging.  Even though many people suffer much from conflicts at home, even though much emotional suffering finds its roots at home, and even though "broken homes" are increasingly blamed for crimes and illnesses, the word "home" continues to carry with it a warm love and remains one of the most evocative symbols for happiness.  The Christian faith even calls us to experience life as "going home" and death as "coming home at last."  In Rembrandt's painting of the Prodigal Son, we can see a moving expression of that fiaht.  The loving embrace in which the old father holds his exhausted son affirms our depest desires for a lasting, intimate home."
  That quote says to me that 'home' is not necessarily a physical building, but can be a place, anyplace that promotes a feeling of safety, encouragement, intimacy and freedom from fear.  I always want my home to be that, wherever it is located.

True Intimacy

Nouwen quote for today.  "It is very hard for love not to become possessive because our hearts look for perfect love and no human being is capable of that.  Only God can offer perfect love.  Therefore, the art of loving includes the art of giving one another space.  When we invade one another's space and do not allow the other to be his or her own free person, we cause great suffering in our relationships.  But when we give another space to move and share our gifts, true intimacy becomes possible."   from Bread for the Journey.

The Spiritual Work of Gratitude

Nouwen quote of the day: "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."  It's a good principle by which to live.

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. (or the opening up of a job, Lisa & Ron).  Patience is not a waiting passivly 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 somehwere else.  Let's be patient and trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand."

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 grown through touching one another's wounds.  Let's remind one another that what brings us true joy is not successfulness but fruitfulness."
Henri Nouwen in "Bread for the Journey"

From Worrying to Prayer

  "One of the least helpful ways to stop worrying is to try hard not to think about the things we are worrying about.  We cannot push away our worries with our minds..., Jesus' advice to set our hearts on God's kingdom is somewhat paradoxical.  You might give it the following interpretation: ; 'If you want to worry, worry about that which is worth the effort.  Worry about larger things than your family, your friends, or tomorrow's meeting.  Worry about the things of God: truth, life, and light!'
   As soon, however, as we set our hearts on these things our minds stop spinning because we enter into communion with the One who is present to us here and now and is there to give us what we most need.  And so worrying becomes prayer, and our feelings of powerlessness are transofrmed into a consciousness of being empowered by God's Spirit....
   Does that put an end to our worrying?  Probably not.  As long as we are in our world, full of tensions and pressures, our minds will never be free from worries, but when we keep returning with our hearts and minds to God's embracing love, we will be able to keep smiling at our own worrisome selves and keep our eyes and ears open for the sights and sounds of the kingdom.
  Henri Nouwen in "Here and Now"

From unceasing thinking to unceasing prayer

"Our minds are always active.  We analyze, 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 realize that Someone who dwells in the center of our beings wants to listen with love to all that occupies and preoccuies our minds."
Nouwen in "Bread for the Journey."