The dance of life finds its beginnings in grief......Here a completely new way of living is revealed. It is the way in which pain can be embraced, not out of a desire to suffer, but in the knowledge that something new will be born in the pain.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the transformative power of grief, suggesting that pain can lead to new beginnings and insights.
Henri Nouwen's quote emphasizes that grief is an integral part of life that can lead to significant personal growth and revelation. Instead of avoiding pain, he suggests we should embrace it, understanding that through our suffering, we can discover new paths and experiences that enrich our lives. This perspective reframes pain as an opportunity for renewal, urging us to acknowledge our struggles as a catalyst for positive change.
In practice
In a motivational speech about overcoming adversity, one might use this quote to illustrate the idea that challenges can lead to personal evolution.
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 – for us. And calling us to share in God’s 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.
Life shoould be touched, not strangled. You've got to relax, let it happen at times, and at other move forward with it.
Your life is like a play with several acts. Some of the characters who enter have short roles to play, others, much larger. Some are villains and others are good guys. But all of them are necessary; otherwise, they wouldn't be in the play. Embrace them all, and move on to the next act.
Modern man is frantically trying to earn enough to buy things he's too busy to enjoy.
I've never heard my dad say a bad word about anybody. He always keeps his emotions in check and is a true gentleman. I was taught that losing it was indulgent, a selfish act.
And when you're young you want to fit in. Hell, I still want to fit in with certain humans, but as you get older you get a little more discriminating.
I like to read away as much of the afternoon as possible, until real life rears its ugly head.
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