Good morning…
“Sue, I’m pretty sure you get these Henri Nouwen meditations,” she emailed me yesterday, “but this one is really beautiful to me and I want to make sure you see it. Also, we need prayer for a six year old boy that is the son of our daughter’s close friend. This little boy has a really bad cancer in his leg. The journey started this week for the family. Please pray for healing for this precious little child who just started kindergarten. Thank you, Sue.”
I welcomed this boy and his family into the heart of my prayers, as I read aloud the ebb and flow of Nouwen’s tranquil truth.
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DAILY MEDITATION | AUGUST 31, 2020 by Henri Nouwen Society
A Prayer
Dear Lord,
Today I thought of the words of Vincent van Gogh: “It is true there is an ebb and flow, but the sea remains the sea.” You are the sea. Although I experience many ups and downs in my emotions and often feel great shifts and changes in my inner life, you remain the same. Your sameness is not the sameness of a rock, but the sameness of a faithful lover. Out of your love I came to life, by your love I am sustained, and to your love I am always called back. There are days of sadness and days of joy; there are feelings of guilt and feelings of gratitude; there are moments of failure and moments of success; but all of them are embraced by your unwavering love. . . . O Lord, sea of love and goodness, let me not fear too much the storms and winds of my daily life, and let me know there is ebb and flow but the sea remains the sea.
Amen.
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Ebb and flow. Ups and downs. Sadness and joy. Guilt and gratitude. Failure and success. May the windy storms of our daily life be embraced by God’s unwavering love. We settle in your presence, Lord, as the sea remains the sea.
“Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul” (Psalm 143:8, NIV).
…Sue…
P.S. Photo by Jaman Asad on Unsplash
