Monthly Archive for February, 2007

I just finished Henri JM Nouwen’s book and I got a few good points from it:

“To convert hostility into hospitality requires the creation of the friendly empty space where we can reach out to our fellow human beings and invite them to a new relationship.  This conversion is an inner event that cannot be manipulated but must develop from within.  Just as we cannot force a plant to grow but can take away the weeds and stones which prevent its development, so we cannot force anyone to such a personal and intimate change of heart, but we can offer the space where such a change can take place.”

“But what is the sense of speaking about light to people who do not sense their darkness?  Why should we speak about the Way to someone who does ot realize there are many roads?  How can anyone desire the truth when he or she doesn’t even know that there are questions?”

“But it remains true that loneliness often leads to hostile behaviour and that solitude is the climate of hospitality.  When we feel lonely we have such a need to liked and loved that we are hypersensitive to the many signals in our environment and easily become hostile to anyone whom we perceive as rejecting us.”

“One of the early fathers said: ‘When thieveds approach a house in order to creep up to it and steal, and hear someone inside talking, they do not dare to climb in; in the same way, when our enemies try to steal into the soul and take possession of it they creep all round but fear to enter when they hear it… prayer welling out.”

Pretty cool book I thought… Maybe a bit of a hard read, or else I just wasn’t paying 100% attention all the time.

I thought I should also mention that I got my new computer pretty well set up now!  It’s pretty sweet!  Brad came over today and did a whole bunch of stuff.  I’m just still getting used to the whole mac thing again.  But it’s pretty sweet!

::SA

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