Wednesday, July 23, 2008

A Timely Reminder....

I am often inspired by the daily meditation from the Henri Nouwen Society. But some days it feels like it was written just for me, where I am in the moment and it stops me in my tracks. From reading blogs I know there are many of us right now who are dealing with some heavy emotional issues, and this seemed particularly appropriate this morning, so I thought I'd share it:

What We Feel Is Not Who We Are
Our emotional lives move up and down constantly. Sometimes we experience great mood swings from excitement to depression, from joy to sorrow, from inner harmony to inner chaos. A little event, a word from someone, a disappointment in work, many things can trigger such mood swings. Mostly we have little control over these changes. It seems that they happen to us rather than being created by us.Thus it is important to know that our emotional life is not the same as our spiritual life. Our spiritual life is the life of the Spirit of God within us. As we feel our emotions shift we must connect our spirits with the Spirit of God and remind ourselves that what we feel is not who we are. We are and remain, whatever our moods, God's beloved children. Henri Nouwen

3 comments:

Katherine E. said...

Yes, I love Henri Nouwen. Thanks, Kate.

(I tagged you for a meme if you have the time and inclination....)

Jan said...

Henri Nouwen's words live on and on to nurture us all. Thank you.

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

This was appropriate. Thanks.