So many terrible things happen every day that we start wondering whether the few things we do ourselves make any sense. When people are starving only a few thousand miles away, when wars are raging close to our borders, when countless people in our own cities have no homes to live in, our own activities look futile. Such considerations, however, can paralyse us and depress us.
Here the word call becomes important. We are not called to save the world, solve all problems, and help all people. But we each have our own unique call, in our families, in our work, in our world. We have to keep asking God to help us see clearly what our call is and to give us the strength to live out that call with trust. Then we will discover that our faithfulness to a small task is the most healing response to the illnesses of our time.
For further reflection...
"Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God." - Hebrews 6: 7 (NIV)
Your response...
Have you ever experienced the kind of overwhelming burden or paralysis that Henri describes? Comment on this Daily Meditation.
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Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Compassion".
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