"When you love and miss someone, you experience an inner pain. Bit by bit you have to discover the nature of pain. When your deepest self is connected with the deeper self of another, that person's absence may be painful, but it will lead to a profound communion with the person, because loving each other is loving in God.
True love between two human beings puts you more in touch with your deepest self. It is a love in God.
The pain you experience from the death or absence of the person you love, then always calls you to a deeper knowledge of God's love. God's love is all the love you need, and it reveals to you the love of God in the other. This is "deep speaking to deep," a mutuality in the heart of God, who embraces both of you.
Death or absence does not end or even diminish the love of God that brought you to the other person. It calls you to take a new step into the mystery of God's inexhaustible love. This process is painful, very painful, because the other person has become a true revelation of God's love for you. But the more you are stripped of the God-given support of people, the more you are called to love God for God's sake. This is an awesome and even dreadful love, but it is the love that offers eternal life." -Henri Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love
Over the past few months, I have experienced a deep sense of pain and an underlying sense of sadness, as I find myself counting the losses of so many I have loved and am missing.
It is challenging for those of us who have suffered great personal loss to easily agree with some of what Henri Nouwen tells us about "deep speaking to deep," but more often than not, all of his words ring absolutely true for me. In my limited, finite condition, I cling to the promises of God that "His love never ends," which means the love for those who have been a "true revelation of God's love" for me never ends either. But, how I long for that human touch, that special laugh, that word of encouragement and expressed love that are no longer mine to experience. But, as Henri Nouwen says, in these times I am most definitely drawn to the "mystery of Gods inexhaustible love."
Henri Nouwen continues to say "when that place where God dwells in you is intimately connected with the place where God dwells in the other, the absence of the other person is not destructive. On the contrary, it will challenge you to enter more deeply into communion with God, the source of all unity and communion among people. It is also possible on the other hand that the pain of absence will show you that you are out of touch with your own deeper self. You need the other to experience inner wholeness, to have a sense of well-being. You have become emotionally dependent on the other and sink into depression, because of his or her absence. It feels as if the other has taken away part of you that you cannot live without. Then the pain of absence reveals a certain lack of trust in God's love. But, God is enough for you."
And, so when I am grieving the loss of those I love, I have to ask myself "is God's love enough?" After a time of personal reflection the answer is always, "Yes! God is enough - no one can fill the empty place in my heart and soul that is meant for You alone!"
With Faith, Hope and Love,
Angie "a mom like you"
www.amotherlikeme.info
amotherlikeme@gmail.com
True love between two human beings puts you more in touch with your deepest self. It is a love in God.
The pain you experience from the death or absence of the person you love, then always calls you to a deeper knowledge of God's love. God's love is all the love you need, and it reveals to you the love of God in the other. This is "deep speaking to deep," a mutuality in the heart of God, who embraces both of you.
Death or absence does not end or even diminish the love of God that brought you to the other person. It calls you to take a new step into the mystery of God's inexhaustible love. This process is painful, very painful, because the other person has become a true revelation of God's love for you. But the more you are stripped of the God-given support of people, the more you are called to love God for God's sake. This is an awesome and even dreadful love, but it is the love that offers eternal life." -Henri Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love
Over the past few months, I have experienced a deep sense of pain and an underlying sense of sadness, as I find myself counting the losses of so many I have loved and am missing.
It is challenging for those of us who have suffered great personal loss to easily agree with some of what Henri Nouwen tells us about "deep speaking to deep," but more often than not, all of his words ring absolutely true for me. In my limited, finite condition, I cling to the promises of God that "His love never ends," which means the love for those who have been a "true revelation of God's love" for me never ends either. But, how I long for that human touch, that special laugh, that word of encouragement and expressed love that are no longer mine to experience. But, as Henri Nouwen says, in these times I am most definitely drawn to the "mystery of Gods inexhaustible love."
Henri Nouwen continues to say "when that place where God dwells in you is intimately connected with the place where God dwells in the other, the absence of the other person is not destructive. On the contrary, it will challenge you to enter more deeply into communion with God, the source of all unity and communion among people. It is also possible on the other hand that the pain of absence will show you that you are out of touch with your own deeper self. You need the other to experience inner wholeness, to have a sense of well-being. You have become emotionally dependent on the other and sink into depression, because of his or her absence. It feels as if the other has taken away part of you that you cannot live without. Then the pain of absence reveals a certain lack of trust in God's love. But, God is enough for you."
And, so when I am grieving the loss of those I love, I have to ask myself "is God's love enough?" After a time of personal reflection the answer is always, "Yes! God is enough - no one can fill the empty place in my heart and soul that is meant for You alone!"
With Faith, Hope and Love,
Angie "a mom like you"
www.amotherlikeme.info
amotherlikeme@gmail.com
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