Thursday, August 31, 2017

Daily Meditation: A Choice Calling for Discipline


DAILY MEDITATION
 
A Choice Calling for Discipline
August 31
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When we look critically at the many thoughts and feelings that fill our minds and hearts, we may come to the horrifying discovery that we often choose death instead of life, curse instead of blessing. Jealousy, envy, anger, resentment, greed, lust, vindictiveness, revenge, hatred ... they all float in that large reservoir of our inner life. Often we take them for granted and allow them to be there and do their destructive work.
 
But God asks us to choose life and to choose blessing. This choice requires an immense inner discipline. It requires a great attentiveness to the death-forces within us and a great commitment to let the forces of life come to dominate our thoughts and feelings. We cannot always do this alone; often we need a caring guide or a loving community to support us. But it is important that we both make the inner effort and seek the support we need from others to help us choose life.
Henri Nouwen
For further reflection...

... I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. - Ephesians 4: 1 (NIV)
Your response...

Where do you desire God's help "to make all things new?" Comment on this Daily Meditation.
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Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Spiritual Formation".
 
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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. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.
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Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Daily Meditation: Choosing Life


DAILY MEDITATION
 
Choosing Life
August 30 
Photo courtesy of Jim van Dijk
God says, "I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).
 
"Choose life." That's God's call for us, and there is not a moment in which we do not have to make that choice. Life and death are always before us. In our imaginations, our thoughts, our words, our gestures, our actions ... even in our nonactions. This choice for life starts in a deep interior place. Underneath very life-affirming behaviour I can still harbour death-thoughts and death-feelings. The most important question is not "Do I kill?" but "Do I carry a blessing in my heart or a curse?" The bullet that kills is only the final instrument of the hatred that began being nurtured in the heart long before the gun was picked up.
Henri Nouwen
For further reflection...

Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. - Matthew 26: 52 (NIV)
Your response...

How can you choose life and blessing today? Comment on this Daily Meditation.
Continue the Inspiration

Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Turn My Mourning into Dancing".
 
Visit our Bookstore:
United States | Canada | United Kingdom
Consider our monthly giving program to sustain the ability to extend Henri's legacy and make his work available to those who seek spiritual formation and nourishment. Click here to sign up today.
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. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.
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Henri Nouwen Society | 214 - 95 St. Joseph Street | Toronto | ON | M5S 2R9 | Canada