Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own.
Interpretation
Community is built when we prioritize others' needs over our own.
This quote emphasizes the essence of community as a collective bond formed through selflessness and mutual support. Henri Nouwen suggests that the strength of a community is rooted in the ability of individuals to care about and prioritize the interests of others, highlighting the importance of empathy and cooperation in fostering meaningful relationships.
In practice
In a speech about volunteer work, one could say, 'Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own.'
The Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self. God loves us, not because of what we do or accomplish, but because God has created and redeemed us in love.
The immense joy in welcoming back the lost son hides in the immense sorrow that has gone before....our brokenness may appear beautiful, but our brokenness has no other beauty but the beauty that comes from the compassion that surrounds it.
Suffering invites us to place our hurts in larger hands. In Christ we see God suffering β for us. And calling us to share in Godβs suffering love for a hurting world. The small and even overpowering pains of our lives are intimately connected with the greater pains of Christ. Our daily sorrows are anchored in a greater sorrow and therefore a larger hope.
To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, welcome, to accept.
Waiting is a dry desert between where we are and where we want to be. (Finding My Way Home)
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.
Sometimes it has to do with other longings that are much more existential. Sometimes you go elsewhere not because you are not liking the one you are with; you are not liking the person you have become.
Dear Non-American Black, when you make the choice to come to America, you become black. Stop arguing. Stop saying I'm Jamaican or I'm Ghanaian. America doesn't care.
I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make my marriage vows mean what they say. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh.
I got along without you before I met you and I'll get along without you a long time after you're gone.
Treat people well on your way up and they'll treat you well on your way down.
Do you ever wonder whether people would like you more or less if they could see inside you?
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