Posts Tagged: Henri Nouwen
“Living in the Now”
Saturday, August 3, 2019
A good reading from Hazelden Publishing:
“Saturday, August 3
To live a spiritual life we must first find the
courage to enter into the desert of loneliness and to change it by gentle and
persistent efforts into a garden of solitude.
—Henri J. M. Nouwen
Knowing our loneliness and admitting it to us is the beginning of a spiritual
path for many men. Today we are on a spiritual journey. We already have the
means to translate the pain of our loneliness into a deeper spiritual
dimension. Most men in this program came in deeply aware of their feelings of
isolation. Now, with the companionship of our Higher Power, we can spend time
alone and use it for spiritual growth. As we develop a relationship with
ourselves and deepen our knowledge of our Higher Power, our loneliness
transforms into solitude.
In this quiet moment today, we can be more accepting of ourselves than we were
in the past. We admit loneliness has caused us pain, but now we can see that it
also can lead us to our deeper self where we find serene solitude. This change
is a movement into the spiritual world.
Thanks to God for the solitude I have found in my life.” (From Touchstones: A Book of Daily
Meditations for Men ©1986, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.)
To say that I am in way over my head in teaching various courses at the university would be an understatement. Perhaps, though, that enables me to be more sympathetic with my fellow-students of the Word. Maybe we are all in over our heads in life and in our pursuit of the God who has pursued us.
No unchecked regrets today! I went down to the breakfast area for my second cup of coffee this morning, and a young couple with a small child and a baby were having breakfast. I was filled with regret that I did not treat my wife and the kids better.
But God reminded me that I can never go back. There are no re-dos for anything that is worthwhile. There is only this day, and its chances to be patient, kind, and compassionate to others—and even to myself. Regret focuses me on the unalterable past, and keeps me from the awareness of the present chances to love. Real love is always a present-tense verb.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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