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Christmas Is Believing That The Salvation Of The World Is God's Work, And Not Mine.
-Henri Nouwen
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Christmas Is Believing That

Henri Nouwen
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Christmas Is Believing That The Salvation Of The World Is God's Work, And Not Mine.

Understanding the Quote: "christmas is believing that the salvation of the world is god's work,..."

This quote by Henri Nouwen reflects deeply on the theme of believe. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Believe, World, Salvation, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Henri Nouwen interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Henri Nouwen

Henri Nouwen is celebrated for insightful thoughts on believe and world. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

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Topic
Believe
World
Salvation
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The More I Think About The Human Suffering In Our World And My Desire To Offer A Healing Response, The More I Realize How Crucial It Is Not To Allow Myself To Become Paralyzed By Feelings Of Helplessness And Guilt. More Important Than Ever Is To Be Very Faithful To My Vocation To Do Well The Few Things I Am Called To Do And Hold On To The Joy And Peace They Bring Me. I Must Resist The Temptation To Let The Forces Of Darkness Pull Me Into Despair And Make Me One More Of Their Many Victims.
Healing
Thinking
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That's The Temptation Of The Devil: "turn Stones Into Bread! Be Relevant!"
Temptation
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Stones
The Spiritual Life Is A Life Beyond Moods. It Is A Life In Which We Choose Joy And Do Not Allow Ourselves To Become Victims Of Passing Feelings Of Happiness Or Depression.
Spiritual
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Feelings
We Are Not The Healers, We Are Not The Reconcilers, We Are Not The Givers Of Life. We Are Sinful, Broken, Vulnerable People Who Need As Much Care As Anyone We Care For.
People
Broken
Needs
O Lord, Make This Lenten Season Different From The Other Ones. Let Me Find You Again. Amen.
Different
Lord
Amen
Jesus Said Communion First, Community Comes Out Of That, And Out Of Community, Ministry.
Jesus
Community
Ministry
The Great #‎ Conversion Called For By Jesus Is To Move From Belonging To The World To Belonging To God.
Jesus
Moving
World
Community Always Calls Us Back To Solitude, And Solitude Always Calls Us To Community. Community And Solitude, Both, Are Essential Elements Of Ministry And Witnessing.
Community
Solitude
Essentials
In 1970 I Felt So Lonely That I Could Not Give; Now I Feel So Joyful That Giving Seems Easy. I Hope That The Day Will Come When The Memory Of My Present Joy Will Give Me The Strength To Keep Giving Even When Loneliness Gnaws At My Heart.
Happiness
Lonely
Memories
Solitude Is The Place Where We Can Connect With Profound Bonds That Are Deeper Than The Emergency Bonds Of Fear And Anger.
Profound
Solitude
Emergencies
My Whole Life I Have Been Complaining That My Work Was Constantly Interrupted, Until I Discovered That My Interruptions Were My Work.
Complaining
Whole Life
Interruptions
When You Recognize The Festive And The Still Moments As Moments Of Prayer, Then You Gradually Realize That To Pray Is To Live.
Prayer
Praying
Realizing
When We Have Nothing To Cling To As Our Own And Cease Thinking Of Ourselves As People Who Must Defend Privileges, We Can Open Ourselves Freely To Others With The Faithful Expectation That Our Strength Will Manifest Itself In Our Shared Weakness.
Thinking
People
Expectations
Any Dance Of Celebration Must Weave Both The Sorrows And The Blessings Into A Joyful Step....to Heal Is To Let The Holy Spirit Call Me To Dance, To Believe Again, Even Amid My Pain, That God Will Orchestrate And Guide My Life.
Pain
Believe
Blessing
Waiting Is A Period Of Learning. The Longer We Wait, The More We Hear About Him For Whom We Are Waiting.
Waiting
Periods
Feelings Of Guilt Dominate Our Work As Peacemakers We Cannot Last Long. But When We Have Opened Each Other's Eyes To The Great Human Gifts Among All People We Can Indeed Make Peacemaking A Way Of Being.
Gratitude
Eye
Mutual Support
Although We Tend To Think About Saints As Holy And Pious, And Picture Them With Halos Above Their Heads And Ecstatic Gazes, True Saints Are Much More Accessible. They Are Men And Women Like Us, Who Live Ordinary Lives And Struggle With Ordinary Problems. What Makes Them Saints Is Their Clear And Unwavering Focus On God And God's People.
Struggle
Men
Thinking
The Church Will Always Be Renewed When Our Attention Shifts From Ourselves To Those Who Need Our Care. The Blessing Of Jesus Always Comes To Us Through The Poor. The Most Remarkable Experience Of Those Who Work With The Poor Is That, In The End, The Poor Give More Than They Receive. They Give Food To Us.
Jesus
Blessing
Giving
Jesus.. Says, 'let Go Of Your Complaints, Forgive Those Who Loved You Poorly, Step Over Your Feelings Of Being Rejected, And Have The Courage To Trust That You Won't Fall Into An Abyss Of Nothingness But Into The Safe Embrace Of A God Whose Love Will Heal All Your Wounds.
Letting Go
Jesus
Fall
Spiritual Maturity Is Not Knowing What To Do With Your Whole Life, But Just Knowing What To Do Next.
Spiritual
Maturity
Knowing
Simply Being With Someone Is Difficult Because It Asks Of Us That We Share In The Other's Vulnerability, Enter With Him Or Her Into The Experience Of Weakness And Powerlessness, Become Part Of The Uncertainty, And Give Up Control And Self-determination.
Determination
Giving Up
Self
Hospitality Means Primarily The Creation Of Free Space Where The Stranger Can Enter And Become A Friend Instead Of An Enemy. Hospitality Is Not To Change People, But To Offer Them Space Where Change Can Take Place. It Is Not To Bring Men And Women Over To Our Side, But To Offer Freedom Not Disturbed By Dividing Lines.
Mean
Men
Space
We Must Ask Ourselves How Many Times Others Would Benefit More From Our Silence Than From Our Words.
Silence
Our Words
Benefits
I Want My Work To Create Space Where People Can Meet God, Rather Than Give Them Something They Can "apply" To Their Daily Life.
Space
People
Giving
There Are As Many Ways To Pray As There Are Moments In Life.
Way
Praying
Moments
The Life-converting Experience Is Not The Discovery That I Have Choices To Make That Determine The Way I Live Out My Existence, But The Awareness That My That My Existence Itself Is Not In The Center. Once I 'know' God, That Is, Once I Experience God's Love As The Love In Which All My Human Experiences Are Anchored, I Can Desire Only One Thing: To Be In That Love.
Discovery
Choices
Desire
Let's Start With Jesus' Answer: "look For The Kingdom First And All Else Will Come Together." Life Is Fragmenting, Fragmented. I Have A Thousands Things To Do, Others Do Too. We Can Live Our Life As If The Main Question Is, "how Can Keep It Together? How Do I Juggle All The Balls? But The Real Question Is, "how Can I Stay Home - Interiorly Home - While I Do These Many Things?
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Real
Home
Yes, It's A Competitive World, But Where Is Your Heart?
Heart
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Prayer Is Not One Of The Many Things The Community Does. Rather, It Is Its Very Beingbut When Prayer Is No Longer Its Primary Concern, And When Its Many Activities Are No Longer Seen And Experienced As Part Of Prayer Itself, The Community Quickly Degenerates Into A Club With A Common Cause But No Common Vocation.
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But What I Would Like To Say Is That The Spiritual Life Is A Life In Which You Gradually Learn To Listen To A Voice That Says Something Else, That Says, "you Are The Beloved And On You My Favour Rests."... I Want You To Hear That Voice. It Is Not A Very Loud Voice Because It Is An Intimate Voice. It Comes From A Very Deep Place. It Is Soft And Gentle. I Want You To Gradually Hear That Voice. We Both Have To Hear That Voice And To Claim For Ourselves That That Voice Speaks The Truth, Our Truth. It Tells Us Who We Are.
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Spiritual
Voice
If You Meet God In Solitude, You Discover The God You Meet Is The God Who Embraces All People.
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Ministry Is A Very Confronting Service. It Does Not Allow People To Live With Illusions Of Immortality And Wholeness. It Keeps Reminding Others That They Are Mortal And Broken, But Also That With The Recognition Of This Condition, Liberation Starts.
People
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Doe
Friends Share Our Pain And Touch Our Wounds With A Gentle And Tender Hand.
Friendship
Pain
True Friend
Our Tendency Is To Run From The Painful Realities Or Try To Change Them As Soon As Possible. But Cure Without Care Makes Us Into Rulers, Controllers, Manipulators.
Running
Reality
Trying
A Life Without A Lonely Place, That Is, Without A Quiet Center, Becomes Destructive.
Lonely
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Gifts Of Life
If You Are Not Able To Be Silent, You Will Not Be Able To Speak Well.
Able
Speak
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...real Care Means The Willingness To Help Each Other In Making Our Brokenness Into The Gateway To Joy.
Real
Mean
Joy
Our Society Is So Fragmented, Our Family Lives So Sundered By Physical And Emotional Distance, Our Friendships So Sporadic, Our Intimacies So 'in-between' Things And Often So Utilitarian, That There Are Few Places Where We Can Feel Truly Safe.
Distance
Emotional
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We Need To Be Angels For Each Other, To Give Each Other Strength And Consolation. Because Only When We Fully Realize That The Cup Of Life Is Not Only A Cup Of Sorrow But Also A Cup Of Joy Will We Be Able To Drink It.
Angel
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Joy
While My Friend Always Spoke About The Sun, I Kept Speaking About The Clouds, Until One Day I Realized That It Was The Sun That Allowed Me To See The Clouds.
Clouds
One Day
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The Way Of Jesus Is Radically Different. It Is The Way Not Of Upward Mobility But Of Downward Mobility. It Is Going To The Bottom, Staying Behind The Sets And Choosing The Last Place! Why Is The Way Of Jesus Worth Choosing? Because It Is The Way To The Kingdom, The Way Jesus Took, And The Way That Brings Everlasting Life.
Jesus
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Mobility
Most Christian Leadership Is Exercised By People Who Do Not Know How To Develop Healthy, Intimate Relationships And Have Opted For Power And Control Instead. Many Christian Empire-builders Have Been People Unable To Give And Receive Love.
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Your Life Is Not Going To Be Easy, And It Should Not Be Easy. It Ought To Be Hard. It Ought To Be Radical; It Ought To Be Restless; It Ought To Lead You To Places You'd Rather Not Go.
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Easy
Gratitude Goes Beyond The 'mine' And 'thine' And Claims The Truth That All Of Life Is A Pure Gift. In The Past I Always Thought Of Gratitude As A Spontaneous Response To The Awareness Of Gifts Received, But Now I Realize That Gratitude Can Also Be Lived As A Discipline. The Discipline Of Gratitude Is The Explicit Effort To Acknowledge That All I Am And Have Is Given To Me As A Gift Of Love, A Gift To Be Celebrated With Joy.
Thanksgiving
Thankful
Spiritual
If You Feel Loved, You Can Do A Thousand Things. If You Feel Rejected, Everything Becomes A Problem.
Problem
Rejected
Thousand
There Are Areas I Have To Work On. I Had Some Questions And Some Struggles, But It Was An Enormously Important Time For Me.
Struggle
Important
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I Have Found It Very Important In My Own Life To Try To Let Go Of My Wishes And Instead To Live In Hope. I Am Finding That When I Choose To Let Go Of My Sometimes Petty And Superficial Wishes And Trust That My Life Is Precious And Meaningful In The Eyes Of God Something Really New, Something Beyond My Own Expectations Begins To Happen For Me. (finding My Way Home)
Letting Go
Meaningful
Eye
Listening Is Much More Than Allowing Another To Talk While Waiting For A Chance To Respond. Listening Is Paying Full Attention To Others And Welcoming Them Into Our Very Beings. The Beauty Of Listening Is That Those Who Are Listened To Start Feeling Accepted, Start Taking Our Words More Seriously And Discovering Their True Selves.
Self
Waiting
Feelings
I Am Very Grateful That I Am In Touch With So Many Different Church Groups. I Am Always Very Moved By The Fact That So Many People - Practically Over The Spectrum Of The Christian World - Are Responding To My Writing.
Christian
Grateful
Writing
As We Are Involved In Unceasing Thinking, So We Are Called To Unceasing Prayer.
Prayer
Thinking
Involved
Christmas Is Believing That The Salvation Of The World Is God's Work, And Not Mine.
Believe
World
Salvation
Learning To Weep, Learning To Keep Vigil, Learning To Wait For The Dawn. Perhaps This Is What It Means To Be Human.
Mean
Waiting
Identity
The Mystery Of The Spiritual Life Is That Jesus Desires To Meet Us In The Seclusion Of Our Own Heart, To Make His Love Known To Us There, To Free Us From Our Fears, And To Make Our Own Deepest Self Known To Us Each Time You Let The Love Of God Penetrate Deeper Into Your Heart It Leads To A Love Of Ourselves That Enables Us To Give Whole-hearted Love To Our Fellow Human Beings. In The Seclusion Of Our Hearts We Learn To Know The Hidden Presence Of God; And With That Spiritual Knowledge We Can Lead A Loving Life.
Spiritual
Jesus
Heart
Although Many, We Might Even Say Most, Strangers In This World Become Easily The Victim Of A Fearful Hostility, It Is Possible For Men And Women And Obligatory For Christians To Offer An Open And Hospitable Space Where Strangers Can Cast Off Their Strangeness And Become Our Fellow Human Beings.
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Life Is A Gift, Not To Possess, But To Share.
Joy
Life Is
Life Is A Gift
Our Brokenness Has No Other Beauty But The Beauty That Comes From The Compassion That Surrounds It.
Compassion
Surround
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When We Have Sold Our Identity To The Judges Of This World, We Are Bound To Become Restless, Because Of A Growing Need For Affirmation And Praise.
Inspirational
Religious
Judging
Solitude Does Not Pull Us Away From Our Fellow Human Beings But Instead Makes Real Fellowship Possible.
Real
Solitude
Doe
Waiting Is A Dry Desert Between Where We Are And Where We Want To Be. (finding My Way Home)
Home
Waiting
Want
As Peacemakers, We Must Resist All The Powers Of War And Destruction And Proclaim That Peace Is The Divine Gift Offered To All Who Affirm Life. Resistance Means Saying 'no' To All The Forces Of Death, Wherever They May Be.
War
Mean
Resistance
Jesus Has To Be And Become Ever More The Center Of My Life. It Is Not Enough That Jesus Is My Teacher, My Guide, My Source Of Inspiration. It Is Not Even Enough That He Is My Companion On They Journey, My Friend And My Brother. Jesus Must Become The Heart Of My Heart, The Fire Of My Life, The Love Of My Soul, The Bridegroom Of My Spirit. He Must Become My Only Thought, My Only Concern, My Only Desire.
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Brother
Jesus
A Sense Of Solitude Is One Of The Most Beautiful Things That Parents Can Give A Child. It Doesn't Mean Leaving The Child Alone, But It Does Mean Creating Safe Spaces Where The Child Can Be With Other People. It Does Mean Directing Their Attention To God.
Beautiful
Children
Mean
One Way To Express The Spiritual Crisis Of Our Time Is To Say That Most Of Us Have An Address But Cannot Be Found There.
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Addresses
Way
For Me The University Has Always Been An Ideal Context For Spiritual Formation. I Always Felt That If You Want To Offer Spiritual Formation At The University, You Can.
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Want
University
Ministry Is The Least Important Thing. You Cannot Not Minister If You Are In Communion With God And Live In Community.
Community
Important
Ministry
Compassion- Which Means, Literally, "to Suffer With"- Is The Way To The Truth That We Are Most Ourselves, Not When We Differ From Others, But When We Are The Same. Indeed The Main Spiritual Question Is Not, "what Difference Do You Make?" But "what Do You Have In Common?" It Is Not "excelling" But "serving" That Makes Us Most Human. It Is Not Proving Ourselves To Be Better Than Others But Confessing To Be Just Like Others That Is The Way To Healing And Reconciliation.
Spiritual
Healing
Mean
Every Time I Take A Step In The Direction Of Generosity, I Know I Am Moving From Fear To Love.
Moving
Generosity
Steps
The Spiritual Life Is A Reaching Out To Our Innermost Self, To Our Fellow Human And To Our God.
Spiritual
Self
Life Is
Forgiveness Changes The Way We Remember. It Converts The Curse Into A Blessing. Forgiveness Indeed Heals Memories . . .
Memories
Blessing
Way
The Discipline Of Gratitude Is The Explicit Effort To Acknowledge That All I Am And Have Is Given To Me As A Gift Of Love, A Gift To Be Celebrated With Joy.
Thanksgiving
Gratitude
Discipline
Solitude Begins With A Time And Place For God, And Him Alone. If We Really Believe Not Only That God Exists But Also That He Is Actively Present In Our Lives—healing, Teaching, And Guiding — We Need To Set Aside A Time And Space To Give Him Our Undivided Attention.
Believe
Teaching
Healing
The Most Important Thing I've Come To Believe In Is That People With Mental Handicaps Have A Unique Mission To Bring God's Blessing To The World.
Believe
Unique
Blessing
Those Who Keep Speaking About The Sun While Walking Under A Cloudy Sky Are Messengers Of Hope, The True Saints Of Our Day.
Sky
Saint
Messengers
When We Are Crushed Like Grapes, We Cannot Think Of The Wine We Will Become.
Wine
Thinking
Grapes
It Is Freeing To Become Aware That We Do Not Have To Be Victims Of Our Past And Can Learn New Ways Of Responding. Forgiveness Is Love Practiced Among People Who Love Poorly. It Sets Us Free Without Wanting Anything In Return.
Past
People
Way
Community Means That People Come Together Around The Table, Not Just To Feed Their Bodies, But To Feed Their Minds And Their Relationships.
Mean
People
Community
Jesus Invites Us To Abide In His Love. That Means To Dwell With All That I Am In Him. It Is An Invitation To A Total Belonging, To Full Intimacy, To An Unlimited Being-with. The Light Of The Spirit Reveals To Us That Love Conquers All Fear.
Spiritual
Jesus
Mean
Who Am I? Where Have I Come From? Where Am I Going?-are Not Questions With An Answer But Questions That Open Us Up To New Questions Which Lead Us Deeper Into The Unshakeable Mystery Of Existence.
Answers
Mystery
Existence
In The Face Of The Oppressed I Recognize My Own Face, And In The Hands Of The Oppressor I Recognize My Own Hands. Their Flesh Is My Flesh, Their Blood Is My Blood, Their Pain Is My Pain, Their Smile Is My Smile.
Pain
Blood
Hands
The Evangelical Movement Has Become Just A Bit Victimized By A Success-oriented Culture, Wanting The Church - Like The Corporation - To Be Successful.
Successful
Church
Corporations
Now I Wonder Whether I Have Sufficiently Realized That During All This Time God Has Been Trying To Find Me, To Know Me, And To Love Me. The Question Is Not 'how Am I To Find God?' But 'how Am I To Let Myself Be Found By Him?' The Question Is Not 'how Am I To Love God?' But 'how Am I To Let Myself Be Loved By God?'
Trying
God Love
Wonder
Those Who Think That They Have Arrived, Have Lost Their Way. Those Who Think They Have Reached Their Goal, Have Missed It. Those Who Think They Are Saints, Are Demons.
Thinking
Goal
Saint
As Those Who Are Chosen, Blessed, Broken, And Given, We Are Called To Live Our Lives With A Deep Inner Joy And Peace. It Is The Life Of The Beloved, Lived In A World Constantly Trying To Convince Us That The Burden Is On Us To Prove That We Are Worthy Of Being Loved.
Blessed
Convince Us
Broken
Our First Responsibility In The Midst Of Violence Is To Prevent It From Destroying Us.
Responsibility
Violence
Firsts
To Give Someone A Blessing Is The Most Significant Affirmation We Can Offer.
Blessing
Giving
Affirmation
Forgiveness Changes The Way We Remember.
Way
Remember
The Best Of Community Does Give One A Deep Sense Of Belonging And Well-being; And In That Sense Community Takes Away Loneliness.
Loneliness
Giving
Community
Home Is The Center Of My Being Where I Can Hear The Voice That Says: 'you Are My Beloved, On You My Favor Rests' - The Same Voice That Gave Life To The First Adam And Spoke To Jesus, The Second Adam; The Same Voice That Speaks To All The Children Of God And Sets Them Free To Live In The Midst Of A Dark World While Remaining In The Light.
Jesus
Children
Home
When We Honestly Ask Ourselves Which Person In Our Lives Mean The Most To Us, We Often Find That It Is Those Who, Instead Of Giving Advice, Solutions, Or Cures, Have Chosen Rather To Share Our Pain And Touch Our Wounds With A Warm And Tender Hand. The Friend Who Can Be Silent With Us In A Moment Of Despair Or Confusion, Who Can Stay With Us In An Hour Of Grief And Bereavement, Who Can Tolerate Not Knowing, Not Curing, Not Healing And Face With Us The Reality Of Our Powerlessness, That Is A Friend Who Cares.
Life
Motivational
Friendship
In This Crazy World, There's An Enormous Distinction Between Good Times And Bad, Between Sorrow And Joy. But In The Eyes Of God, They're Never Separated. Where There Is Pain, There Is Healing. Where There Is Mourning, There Is Dancing. Where There Is Poverty, There Is The Kingdom.
Encouragement
Pain
Crazy
The Central Question Is, Are The Leaders Of The Future Truly Men And Women Of God, People With An Ardent Desire To Dwell In God's Presence, To Listen To God's Voice, To Look At God's Beauty, To Touch God's Incarnate Word And To Taste Fully God's Infinite Goodness.
Men
Voice
People
Be Surprised By Joy, Be Surprised By The Little Flower That Shows Its Beauty In The Midst Of A Barren Desert, And Be Surprised By The Immense Healing Power That Keeps Bursting Forth Like Springs Of Fresh Water From The Depth Of Our Pain.
Pain
Spring
Flower
Today's Reading Was "if They Ask You To Walk A Mile, Walk Two. Don't Take An Eye For An Eye Or A Tooth For A Tooth." You Have Chances Every Second To Live This Word, But It Has To Be In You. It Can't Just Be An Idea; It Has To Sink From The Mind Into The Heart.
Reading
Heart
Eye
I Wrote To My Bishop, The Archbishop Of Utrecht, Holland, And Explained That I Wanted Not Just Permission To Stay Longer, But A Mission. He Met Me At The Trosly L'arche Community And We Spent A Few Days Together . . . I Wanted Him To Get To Know L'arche, To Understand What I Was Doing There. Afterward He Said, "i Understand Now, Henri. You Have Found A Home For Your Self."
Home
Self
Community
Joy Is The Experience Of Knowing That You Are Unconditionally Loved.
Knowing
Joy
Our Life Is...a Time In Which Sadness And Joy Kiss Each Other At Every Moment.
Sadness
Kissing
Joy
The World Is Waiting For New Saints, Ecstatic Men And Women Who Are So Deeply Rooted In The Love Of God That They Are Free To Imagine A New International Order.
Men
Order
Waiting
We Can Be Unhappy About Many Things, But Jy Can Still Be There... It Is Important To Become Aware That At Every Moment Of Our Life We Have An Opportunity To Choose Joy... It Is In The Choice That Our True Freedom Lies, And That Freedom Is, In The Final Analysis, The Freedom To Love.
Uplifting
Lying
Opportunity
The More You Are Called To Speak For God's Love, The More You Will Need To Deepen The Knowledge Of That Love In Your Own Heart. The Farther The Outward Journey Takes You, The Deeper The Inward Journey Must Be. Only When Your Roots Are Deep Can Your Fruits Be Abundant.
Heart
Journey
Roots
When People Show You Their Boundaries ("i Can't Do This For You") You Feel Rejected...part Of Your Struggle Is To Set Boundaries To Your Own Love. Only When You Are Able To Set Your Own Boundaries Will You Be Able To Acknowledge, Respect And Even Be Grateful For The Boundaries Of Others.
Struggle
Grateful
People
Emit Gratitude As Though It Was Done
Gratitude
Done
The Farther The Outward Journey Takes You, The Deeper The Inward Journey Must Be.
Journey
Inward
Deeper
The Real Question Is: How Can I Live So That My Death Will Be Fruitful For Others?
Real
Real Questions
The Real 'work' Of Prayer Is To Become Silent And Listen To The Voice That Says Good Things About Me.
Prayer
Real
Voice
You Have To Listen To The One Who Calls You Beloved. That Has To Be Affirmed Over And Over Again. That Is Prayer - Listening To The Voice Of The One Who Calls You "the Beloved."
Prayer
Voice
Listening
When You Are Still Young And Not Yet Adult, You Want To Hold Everything In Your Own Hands, But If You Have Your Hands Open Toward Prayer, You Are Able To Stretch Out Your Arms And Let Yourself Be Led Without Knowing Where. You Know Only The Freedom Which God's Breath Has Brought You Will Lead To New Life, Even If The Cross Is The Only Sign Of It You Can See.
Prayer
Hands
Knowing
Through Discipline, Discipline Is The Other Side Of Discipleship. If You Want To Follow Jesus, You Have To Have Discipline.
Jesus
Discipline
Want
Living In A Community With Very Wounded People, I Came To See That I Had Lived Most Of My Life As A Tightrope Artist Trying To Walk On A High, Thin Cable From One Tower To The Other, Always Waiting For The Applause When I Had Not Fallen Off And Broken My Leg.
Artist
Broken
People
When We Keep Claiming The Light, We Will Find Ourselves Becoming More And More Radiant.
Light
Becoming
Becoming More
The Deepest Satisfaction Of Writing Is Precisely That It Opens Up New Spaces Within Us Of Which We Were Not Aware Before We Started To Write. To Write Is To Embark On A Journey Whose Final Destination We Do Not Know.
Writing
Journey
Space
Your Body Needs To Be Held And To Hold, To Be Touched And To Touch. None Of These Needs Is To Be Despised, Denied, Or Repressed. But You Have To Keep Searching For Your Body's Deeper Need, The Need For Genuine Love. Every Time You Are Able To Go Beyond The Body's Superficial Desires For Love, You Are Bringing Your Body Home And Moving Toward Integration And Unity.
Love
Moving
Home
I Am Deeply Convince That The Necessity Of Prayer, And To Pray Unceasingly, Is Not As Much Based On Our Desire For God As On God's Desire For Us. It Is God's Passionate Pursuit Of Us That Calls Us To Prayer.
Prayer
Desire
Passionate
Where True Inner Freedom Is, There Is God. And Where God Is, There We Want To Be.
Want
God Is There
We May Be Little, Insignificant Servants In The Eyes Of A World Motivated By Efficiency, Control And Success. But When We Realize That God Has Chosen Us From All Eternity, Sent Us Into The World As The Blessed Ones, Handed Us Over To Suffering, Can't We, Then, Also Trust That Our Little Lives Will Multiply Themselves And Be Able To Fulfill The Needs Of Countless People?
Blessed
Eye
People
The Joy That Compassion Brings Is One Of The Best-kept Secrets Of Humanity. It Is A Secret Known Only To A Very Few People, A Secret That Has To Be Rediscovered Over And Over Again.
Compassion
Best Kept Secrets
People
Jesus Says, "keep Your Heart On The Kingdom First. Keep Your Heart On God's Love. Keep Focused On The Fact That You Are God's Beloved Daughter Or Son. That's The Truth Of Who You Are.
Daughter
Jesus
Heart
Hospitality Is Not To Change People, But To Offer Them Space Where Change Can Take Place.
Space
People
Hospitality
For Many, Religion Has To Do With What We Are Allowed To Do And Not Allowed To Do. In The End, That Doesn't Bear Fruit.
Fruit
Bears
Ends
When You're On The Bus Or Subway Or In Your Car, Why Busy Your Mind With All The Garbage Of Advertisements? Why Fill Your Mind With Television And Radio? Somehow You Have To Decide What Your Mind Will Receive. I Don't Mean You Shouldn't Ever Go To Movies Or Watch Television, But Control What Enters Your Mind And Heart. It's Not Just A Question Of Pushing Bad Things Out But Also A Question Of Holding On To Something Really Good.
Heart
Mean
Car
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.
Fate
Giving
Goal
Silence Is A Very Concrete, Practical, And Useful Discipline In All Our Ministerial Tasks. It Can Be Seen As A Portable Cell Taken With Us From The Solitary Place Into The Midst Of Our Ministry. Silence Is Solitude Practiced In Action.
Taken
Cells
Discipline
Real Grief Is Not Healed By Time... If Time Does Anything, It Deepens Our Grief. The Longer We Live, The More Fully We Become Aware Of Who She Was For Us, And The More Intimately We Experience What Her Love Meant For Us. Real, Deep Love Is, As You Know, Very Unobtrusive, Seemingly Easy And Obvious, And So Present That We Take It For Granted. Therefore, It Is Only In Retrospect - Or Better, In Memory - That We Fully Realize Its Power And Depth. Yes, Indeed, Love Often Makes Itself Visible In Pain.
Pain
Memories
Real
The Real Enemies Of Our Life Are The 'oughts' And The 'ifs.' They Pull Us Backward Into The Unalterable Past And Forward Into The Unpredictable Future. But Real Life Takes Place In The Here And Now.
Real
Past
Enemy
I've Had A Tremendous Problem With Depression In My Life. I'd Rather Not Talk About It, Because It's Over. But Depression Is Real.
Real
Problem
The Gospel Word Of The Day Can Become Like A Painting On The Walls. Of Your Inner Room, The Inner Room That Is Your Heart.
Wall
Heart
Rooms
The Great Illusion Of Leadership Is To Think That Man Can Be Led Out Of The Desert By Someone Who Has Never Been There.
Men
Thinking
Desert
Today I Personally Believe That While Jesus Came To Open The Door To God's House, All Human Beings Can Walk Through That Door, Whether They Know About Jesus Or Not. Today I See It As My Call To Help Every Person Claim His Or Her Own Way To God.
Jesus
Believe
Doors
Your Heart Is Greater Than Your Wounds.
Heart
Greater
Wounds
The Church Is Not An Institution Forcing Us To Follow Rules But A Community Inviting Us To Still Our Hunger And Thirst At Its Table.
Community
Church
Hunger And Thirst
When We Become Aware That We Do Not Have To Escape Our Pains, But That We Can Mobilize Them Into A Common Search For Life, Those Very Pains Are Transformed From Expressions Of Despair Into Signs Of Hope.
Inspirational
Pain
Expression
Peace Is First Of All The Art Of Being.
Art
Complacency
Firsts
Good Families Always Ritualize The Table. You Can Say, "this Is A Christmas Meal; This Is A Birthday Meal."
Meals
Tables
Good Family
Our Lives Are Unique Stones In The Mosaic Of Human Existence -- Priceless And Irreplaceable.
Unique
Mosaics
Stones
This Sounds Very Simple And Maybe Even Trite, But Very Few People Know That They Are Loved Without Condition Or Limits.
Simple
People
Sound
Dare To Love And To Be A Real Friend. The Love You Give And Receive Is A Reality That Will Lead You Closer And Closer To God As Well As Those Whom God Has Given You To Love.
Love
Real
Giving
There Is A Wonderful Story In The Gospel Of Luke (6:12-26). Jesus Went Up To The Mountain To Pray At Night; In The Morning He Came Down From The Mountain And Called His Twelve Apostles Around Him. In The Afternoon He Went Out On The Plain With Them To Preach The Good News And Heal The Sick. He Had Communion With God First, Then He Had Community, And Then He Went Out To Do The Work Of God. That's The Order Of Things.
Jesus
Morning
Night
It's An Incredible Mystery Of God's Love That The More You Know How Deeply You Are Loved, The More You Will See How Deeply Your Sisters And Your Brothers In The Human Family Are Loved.
Brother
Mystery
Incredibles
Jesus Didn't Live Alone. He Had Peter, John, And James Around Him. There Were The Twelve And The Other Disciples. They Formed Circles Of Intimacy Around Jesus. We Too Need These Circles Of Intimacy, But It's A Discipline.
Jesus
Circles
Discipline
When The Imitation Of Christ Does Not Mean To Live A Life Like Christ, But To Live Your Life As Authentically As Christ Lived His, Then There Are Many Ways And Forms In Which A Man Can Be A Christian.
Christian
Mean
Men
Prayer Requires That We Stand In God's Presence With Open Hands, Naked And Vulnerable, Proclaiming To Ourselves And To Others That Without God We Can Do Nothing. As Disciples, We Find Not Some But All Of Our Strength, Hope, Courage, And Confidence In God. Therefore, Prayer Must Be Our First Concern.
Prayer
Hands
Naked
One Of The Main Tasks Of Theology Is To Find Words That Do Not Divide But Unite, That Do Not Create Conflict But Unity, That Do Not Hurt But Heal.
Hurt
Unity
Tasks
I Know That I Have To Move From Speaking About Jesus To Letting Him Speak Within Me, From Thinking About Jesus To Letting Him Think Within Me, From Acting For And With Jesus To Letting Him Act Through Me. I Know The Only Way For Me To See The World Is To See It Through His Eyes.
Jesus
Moving
Eye
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.
Life
Spiritual
Loneliness
Spiritual Identity Means We Are Not What We Do Or What People Say About Us. And We Are Not What We Have. We Are The Beloved Daughters And Sons Of God.
Daughter
Spiritual
Mean
It Is To This Silence [contemplative Prayer] That We All Are Called.
Prayer
Silence
Contemplative
Living A Spiritual Life Requires A Change Of Heart, A Conversion. Such A Conversion May Be Marked By A Sudden Inner Change, Or It Can Take Place Through A Long, Quiet Process Of Transformation. But It Always Involves An Inner Experience Of Oneness.
Spiritual
Heart
Oneness
People Who Read Your Ideas Tend To Think That Your Writings Reflect Your Life.
Writing
Thinking
Ideas
Our Efforts To Disconnect Ourselves From Our Own Suffering End Up Disconnecting Our Suffering From God's Suffering For Us. The Way Out Of Our Loss And Hurt Is In And Through.
Hurt
Loss
Effort
Dear God, I Am So Afraid To Open My Clenched Fists! Who Will I Be When I Have Nothing Left To Hold On To? Who Will I Be When I Stand Before You With Empty Hands? Please Help Me To Gradually Open My Hands And To Discover That I Am Not What I Own, But What You Want To Give Me.
Hands
Giving
Want
Jesus' Whole Life And Mission Involve Accepting Powerlessness And Revealing In This Powerlessness The Limitlessness Of God's Love. Here We See What Compassion Means. It Is Not A Bending Toward The Underprivileged From A Privileged Position; It Is Not A Reaching Out From On High To Those Who Are Less Fortunate Below; It Is Not A Gesture Of Sympathy Or Pity For Those Who Fail To Make It In The Upward Pull. On The Contrary, Compassion Means Going Directly To Those People And Places Where Suffering Is Most Acute And Building A Home There.
Jesus
Mean
Home
Community Life Is Not Easy For Somebody Like Me, Who Is Used To Living By Himself And Doing What He Wants. It's A Demanding Life, And You Quickly Get In Touch With Your Own Handicaps And Weaknesses.
Community
Want
Weakness
...marriage Is Foremost A Vocation. Two People Are Called Together To Fulfill A Mission That God Has Given Them. Marriage Is A Spiritual Reality. That Is To Say, A Man And A Woman Come Together For Life, Not Just Because They Experience Deep Love For Each Other, But Because They Believe That God Loves Each Of Them With An Infinite Love And Has Called Them To Each Other To Be Living Witnesses Of That Love. To Love Is To Embody God's Infinite Love In A Faithful Communion With Another Human Being.
Spiritual
Believe
Reality
Life Is Not Entertainment. Life Is Not Distraction.
Entertainment
Life Is
Distraction
Often We Come Home From A Sharing Session With A Feeling That Something Precious Has Been Taken Away From Us Or That Holy Ground Has Been Trodden Upon.
Taken
Home
Holy Ground
It Is Precisely When You Are Loved A Lot That You Might Realize A Second Loneliness Which Is Not To Be Solved But Lived. This Second Loneliness Is An Existential Loneliness That Belongs To The Basis Of Our Being. It's Where We Are Unfulfilled Because Only God Can Fill Us.
Loneliness
Might
Realizing
Too Many Of Us Are Lonely Ministers Practicing A Lonely Ministry.
Lonely
Ministry
Ministers
Joy Does Not Simply Happen To Us. We Have To Choose Joy And Keep Choosing It Every Day.
Happiness
Opportunity
True Joy
[the Return Of The Prodigal Book] Came Out Of My Emotional And Spiritual Journey During The Four Months I Was Gone From Daybreak Because Of Depression.
Spiritual
Book
Journey
Ministry In No Way Is A Privilege...it Is The Core Of The Christian Life. No Christian Is A Christian Without Being A Minister.
Christian
Way
Privilege
Christian Life Is Not A Life Divided Between Times For Action And Times For Contemplation. No. Real Social Action Is A Way Of Contemplation, And Real Contemplation Is The Core Of Social Action.
Christian
Real
Godly
Obviously A Child Can Never Conceive Solitude If His Parents Aren't Living It Somewhere Themselves. I Don't Mean That To Be Alone You Have To Get Down On Your Knees For An Hour In A Yoga Posture.
Children
Yoga
Mean
Trust That The Treasure We Look For Is Hidden In The Ground On Which We Stand.
Looks
Treasure
Indeed, When God's Glory Dwells In Me, There Is Nothing Too Far Away, Nothing Too Painful, Nothing Too Strange Or Too Familiar That It Cannot Contain And Renew By Its Touch. Every Time I Recognize The Glory Of God In Me And Give It Space To Manifest Itself To Me, All That Is Human Can Be Brought There And Nothing Will Be The Same Again.
Space
Giving
Strange
Hope Is Willing To Leave Unanswered Questions Unanswered And Unknown Futures Unknown. Hope Makes You See God's Guiding Hand Not Only In The Gentle And Pleasant Moments But Also In The Shadows Of Disappointment And Darkness.
Disappointment
Hands
Darkness
Aging Does Not Need To Be Hidden Or Denied, But Can Be Understood, Affirmed And Experienced As A Process Of Growth By Which The Mystery Of Life Is Slowly Revealed To Us.
Growth
Age
Doe
To Be Baptized Means To Make The Passage With The People Of Israel And With Jesus From Slavery To Freedom And From Death To New Life. It Is A Commitment To A Life In And Through Jesus.
Jesus
Mean
Commitment
Perhaps Nothing Helps Us Make The Movement From Our Little Selves To A Larger World Than Remembering God In Gratitude. Such A Perspective Puts God In View In All Of Life, Not Just In The Moments We Set Aside For Worship Or Spiritual Disciplines. Not Just In The Moments When Life Seems Easy.
Spiritual
Gratitude
Self
Is My Growing Old Making Me Any Closer To Christ? Am I Only Getting Older Or Am I Getting More Godly?
Godly
Getting Older
Growing
Jesus Was A Revolutionary, Who Did Not Become An Extremist, Since He Did Not Offer An Ideology, But Himself. He Was Also A Mystic, Who Did Not Use His Intimate Relationship With God To Avoid The Social Evils Of His Time, But Shocked His Milieu To The Point Of Being Executed As A Rebel. In This Sense He Also Remains For Nuclear Man The Way To Liberation And Freedom.
Jesus
Men
Intimate Relationships
The Truth, Even Though I Cannot Feel It Right Now, Is That I Am The Chosen Child Of God, Precious In God's Eyes, Called The Beloved From All Eternity And Held Safe In An Everlasting Embrace... We Must Dare To Opt Consciously For Our Chosenness And Not Allow Our Emotions, Feelings, Or Passions To Seduce Us Into Self-rejection.
Children
Passion
Eye
The Difference Between Rich And Poor Is Not That The Rich Sin Is More Than The Poor, That The Rich Find It Easier To Call Sin A Virtue.
Differences
Sin
Rich
My Writing Has Developed Drastically . The Return Of The Prodigal Son Is The Most Important Thing I've Done, And My Most Mature Book.
Book
Writing
Son
Fundraising Is A Very Rich And Beautiful Activity. It Is A Confident, Joyful And Hope-filled Expression Of Ministry. In Ministering To Each Other, Each From The Riches That He Or She Possesses, We Work Together For The Full Coming Of God's Kingdom.
Beautiful
Expression
Fundraising
Compassion Can Never Coexist With Judgement Because Judgement Creates The Distance, The Distinction, Which Prevents Us From Really Being With The Other.
Distance
Compassion
Judgement
If You Start With Community And Want To Be Faithful To Community, You Have To Realize That What Binds You Together Is Not Mutual Compatibility Or Common Tasks, But God. In Order To Stay In Touch With That Call To Community, We Always Have To Return To Solitude.
Order
Community
Solitude
Ministers Are Powerless People Who Have Nothing To Boast Of Except Their Weaknesses. But When The Lord Whom They Serve Fills Them With His Blessing They Will Move Mountains And Change The Hearts Of People Wherever They Go.
Moving
Heart
Blessing
...the Word That Seems Best To Summarize The Desire Of The Human Heart Is 'communion.' ...wherever We Look It Is Communion That We Seek.
Heart
Desire
Looks
The Third Discipline Is Community. Whom Do You Choose As Your Companions? Whom Do You Choose To Be Friends With, To Live With? Are They People Who Love You, And Care For You, And Nurture You?
Love You
Discipline
People
Discipline In The Spiritual Life Is The Concentrated Effort To Create The Space And Time Where God Can Become Our Master And Where We Can Respond Freely To God's Guidance.
Spiritual
Space
Discipline
The Church Is The Body Of Christ Fashioned By Baptism & The Eucharist.
Baptism
Church
Body
When You Pray, You Open Yourself To The Influence Of The Power Which Has Revealed Itself As Love. The Power Gives You Freedom And Independence. Once Touched By This Power, You Are No Longer Swayed Back And Forth By The Countless Opinions, Ideas, And Feelings Which Flow Through You. You Have Found A Center For Your Life That Gives You A Creative Distance So That Everything You See, Hear, And Feel Can Be Tested Against The Source.
Distance
Ideas
Giving
Joy Is What Makes Life Worth Living, But For Many Joy Seems Hard To Find. They Complain That Their Lives Are Sorrowful And Depressing. What Then Brings The Joy We So Much Desire? Are Some People Just Lucky, While Others Have Run Out Of Luck? Strange As It May Sound, We Can Choose Joy. Two People Can Be Part Of The Same Event, But One May Choose To Live It Quite Differently Than The Other. One May Choose To Trust That What Happened, Painful As It May Be, Holds A Promise. The Other May Choose Despair And Be Destroyed By It. What Makes Us Human Is Precisely This Freedom Of Choice.
Running
Depressing
Two
In 1984, Jean Vanier Invited Me Me To Visit L'arche Community In Trosly, France. He Didn't Say "we Need A Priest" Or "we Could Use You." He Said, "maybe Our Community Can Offer You A Home." I Visited Several Times, Then Resigned From Harvard And Went To Live With The Community For A Year. I Loved It! I Didn't Have Much To Do. I Wasn't Pastor Or Anything. I Was Just A Friend Of The Community.
Home
Years
Community
It Is Not Easy To Enter Into The Silence And Reach Beyond The Many Boisterous And Demanding Voices Of Our World And To Discover There The Small Intimate Voice Saying: 'you Are My Belived Child, On You My Favor Rests.'
Children
Our World
Voice
What Makes Us Human Is Not Our Mind But Our Heart, Not Our Ability To Think But Our Ability To Love.
Heart
Thinking
Mind
It Is This Nothingness (in Solitude) That I Have To Face In My Solitude, A Nothingness So Dreadful That Everything In Me Wants To Run To My Friends, My Work, And My Distractions So That I Can Forget My Nothingness And Make Myself Believe That I Am Worth Something. The Task Is To Persevere In My Solitude, To Stay In My Cell Until All My Seductive Visitors Get Tired Of Pounding On My Door And Leave Me Alone. The Wisdom Of The Desert Is That The Confrontation With Our Own Frightening Nothingness Forces Us To Surrender Ourselves Totally And Unconditionally To The Lord Jesus Christ.
Running
Jesus
Believe
If We Want Other People To Give Us Something That Only God Can Give, We Become A Demon. We Say, "love Me!" And Before You Know It We Become Violent And Demanding And Manipulative. It's So Important That We Keep Forgiving One Another - Not Once In A While, But Every Moment Of Life.
Forgiveness
People
Giving
People Who Pray Stand Receptive Before The World. They No Longer Grab But Caress, They No Longer Bite But Kiss, They No Longer Examine But Admire.
Kissing
People
World
[praying] Demands That You Take To The Road Again And Again, Leaving Your House And Looking Forward To A New Land For Yourself And Your [fellow Human]. This Is Why Praying Demands Poverty, That Is, The Readiness To Live A Life In Which You Have Nothing To Lose So That You Always Begin Afresh.
Land
House
Leaving
The Main Question Is Not, How Can We Hide Our Wounds...but How Can We Put Our Woundedness In Service To Others.
Service To Others
Woundedness
Wounds
What Is Important Is How Well We Love. God Will Make Our Love Fruitful, Whether We See That Fruitfulness Or Not.
Important
Our Love
God Love
Somewhere We Know That Without Silence, Words Lose Their Meaning.
Silence
Distance Friendship
Inspirational Long Distance Relationship
If You Believe You Are The Beloved Of God, You Need To Spend Time Listening To His Voice - Period! You Can't Say, "yes God Calls Me The Beloved, But I Have To Go Out To Do Something Now."
Believe
Voice
Listening
You Have To Dare To Live Through The Pain And Struggle. Acknowledge Your Anguish But Do Not Let It Pull You Out Of Yourself. Hold On To Your Chosen Direction, Your Discipline, Your Prayer, Your Work, Your Guides, And Trust That One Day Love Will Have Conquered Enough Of You That Even The Most Fearful Part Will Allow Love To Cast Out All Fear.
Prayer
Pain
Struggle
You Don't Think Your Way Into A New Kind Of Living. You Live Your Way Into A New Kind Of Thinking.
Inspirational
Thinking
Way
Prayer Is Not A Pious Decoration Of Life But The Breath Of Human Existence.
Prayer
Existence
Decoration
Without Pentecost The Christ-event - The Life, Death, And Resurrection Of Jesus - Remains Imprisoned In History As Something To Remember, Think About And Reflect On. The Spirit Of Jesus Comes To Dwell Within Us, So That We Can Become Living Christs Here And Now.
Spiritual
Jesus
Thinking
We Cannot Make It Rain But We Can See To It That The Rain Falls On Prepared Soil.
Rain
Fall
Soil
This Brief Lifetime Is My Opportunity To Receive Love, Deepen Love, Grow In Love, And Give Love.
Opportunity
Deep Love
Giving
Becoming The Beloved Is Pulling The Truth Revealed To Me From Above Down Into The Ordinariness Of What I Am, In Fact, Thinking Of, Talking About And Doing From Hour To Hour.
Thinking
Talking
Truth Revealed
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