Words make a difference

I haven’t posted many words of wisdom from the beloved (and should be saint) Henri Nouwen, my favorite Belgian priest. He left this world in 1996, but left also a treasure trove of thoughtful, healing, and meditative words for us to remember him by. He also, in his own quest to live Christ-like, struggled to live those words in real life. I get that. I too struggle to achieve what I set out to do. But I have come to realize, thanks to saints like Nouwen that it’s in the struggle that I am working closest with God. Every step forward is moving me forward. Likewise every word I utter ought to move me - and those around me - forward.

Nouwen writes, “In Jesus, no division existed between his words and his actions, between what he said and what he did. Jesus’ words were his action, his words were events. They not only spoke about changes, cures, new life, but they actually created them. In this sense, Jesus is truly the Word made flesh; in that Word all is created and by that Word all is re-created. Saintliness means living without division between word and action. If I would truly live in my own life the word I am speaking, my spoken words would become actions, and miracles would happen whenever I open my mouth.”