Can anyone else relate to this? Oh man, I know that I can. #MisplacedIdentity “At issue here is the question: To whom do I belong? God or to the world? Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than to God. A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down. Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves. All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows that my life is mostly a struggle for survival: not a holy struggle, but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it is the world that defines me. As long as I keep running about asking: Do you love me? Do you really love me? I give all power to the voices of the world and put myself in bondage because the world is filled with ifs. The world says: Yes, I love you if you are good-looking, intelligent, and wealthy. I love you if you have a good education, a good job, and good connections. I love you if you produce much, sell much, and buy much. There are endless ifs hidden in the worlds love. These ifs enslave me, since it is impossible to respond adequately to all of them. The worlds love is and always will be conditional. As long as I keep looking for my true self in the world of conditional love, I will remain hooked to the world-trying, failing,and trying again. It is a world that fosters addictions because what it offers cannot satisfy the deepest craving of my heart.” - Henri J.M. Nouwen
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 18:28:08 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015