Henri Nouwen Society - Daily Meditation
Sunday April 20, 2014

Healing Contradictions

The many contradictions in our lives - such as being home while feeling homeless, being busy while feeling bored, being popular while feeling lonely, being believers while feeling many doubts -  can frustrate, irritate, and even discourage us.  They make us feel that we are never fully present.  Every door that opens for us makes us see how many more doors are closed.

But there is another response.  These same contradictions can bring us into touch with a deeper longing, for the fulfillment of a desire that lives beneath all desires and that only God can satisfy.  Contradictions, thus understood, create the friction that can help us move toward God.

- Henri J. M. Nouwen  
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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, �1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible �1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.