Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God’s eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God’s heart.
HENRI NOUWENWhat makes us human is not our mind but our heart, not our ability to think but our ability to love.
More Henri Nouwen Quotes
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Without solitude it is virtually impossible to live a spiritual life. We do not take the spiritual life seriously if we do not set aside some time to be with God and listen to him.
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The great illusion of leadership is to think that man can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been there.
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In our own woundedness, we can become sources of life for others.
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Keep a space where God can let something totally new take place.
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Every time I take a step in the direction of generosity, I know I am moving from fear to love.
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Those we most love cause us not only great joy but also great pain. LOVE is stronger than fear, life stronger than death, hope stronger than despair. We have to trust that the risk of loving is always worth taking.
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We are called to be fruitful – not successful, not productive, not accomplished. Success comes from strength, stress, and human effort. Fruitfulness comes from vulnerability and the admission of our own weakness.
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The fruits of your labors may be reaped two generations from now. Trust, even when you don’t see the results.
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Trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand.
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When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become.
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The main question is not, how can we hide our wounds but how can we put our woundedness in service to others.
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The greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity or power, but self-rejection.
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Life is just a little opportunity for you during a few years to say, “I love you, too.”
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Forgiveness changes the way we remember.
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You don’t think your way into a new kind of living. You live your way into a new kind of thinking.
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Your heart is greater than your wounds.
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Much violence is based on the illusion that life is a property to be defended and not to be shared.
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Prayer is first of all listening to God. It’s openness. God is always speaking; he’s always doing something.
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Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self.
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We need to be angels for each other, to give each other strength and consolation. Because only when we fully realize that the cup of life is not only a cup of sorrow but also a cup of joy will we be able to drink it.
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Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.
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The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing that is a friend who cares.
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Dare to love and to be a real friend. The love you give and receive is a reality that will lead you closer and closer to God as well as those whom God has given you to love.
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Learning to weep, learning to keep vigil, learning to wait for the dawn. Perhaps this is what it means to be human.
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Our greatest fulfillment lies in giving ourselves to others.
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We are all healers who can reach out and offer health, and we are all patients in constant need of help.
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