DAILY MEDITATION: "Clinging to God in Solitude" for Wednesday, 16 August 2017
Photo courtesy of Jim van Dijk
When we enter into solitude to be with God alone, we quickly discover how dependent we are. Without the many distractions of our daily lives, we feel anxious and tense. When nobody speaks to us, calls on us, or needs our help, we start feeling like nobodies. Then we begin wondering whether we are useful, valuable, and significant. Our tendency is to leave this fearful solitude quickly and get busy again to reassure ourselves that we are "somebodies." But that is a temptation, because what makes us somebodies is not other people's responses to us but God's eternal love for us.To claim the truth of ourselves we have to cling to our God in solitude as to the One who makes us who we are.
For further reflection...
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone. [Psalm 62: 5 (NIV)]
Your response...
"For each one of us, there is only one thing necessary: to fulfill our own destiny, according to God's will, to be what God wants us to be." [Thomas Merton]
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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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