Making Our Lives Available to Others through our stories

Making Our Lives Available to Others

One of the arguments we often use for not writing is this: "I have nothing original to say. Whatever I might say, someone else has already said it, and better than I will ever be able to." This, however, is not a good argument for not writing. Each human person is unique and original, and nobody has lived what we have lived. Furthermore, what we have lived, we have lived not just for ourselves but for others as well. Writing can be a very creative and invigorating way to make our lives available to ourselves and to others.

We have to trust that our stories deserve to be told. We may discover that the better we tell our stories the better we will want to live them.

- Henri Nouwen

Saturday, December 17, 2011

The Freedom to Refuse Love (Henri Nouwen)

So true ....


The Freedom to Refuse Love  (Henri Nouwen)

Often hell is portrayed as a place of punishment and heaven as a place of reward.  But this concept easily leads us to think about God as either a policeman, who tries to catch us when we make a mistake and send us to prison when our mistakes become too big, or a Santa Claus, who counts up all our good deeds and puts a reward in our stocking at the end of the year.

God, however, is neither a policeman nor a Santa Claus.  God does not send us to heaven or hell depending on how often we obey or disobey.  God is love and only love.  In God there is no hatred, desire for revenge, or pleasure in seeing us punished.  God wants to forgive, heal, restore, show us endless mercy, and see us come home.  But just as the father of the prodigal son let his son make his own decision God gives us the freedom to move away from God's love even at the risk of destroying ourselves.   Hell is not God's choice.  It is ours.
Posted by at 10:18 AM
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