Wisdom from Henri Nouwen's Life of the Beloved

Since this book connected so deeply with my own sense of spirituality,  thought it was worth pulling out the lines that most struck me as I read.

• "Isn't that what friendship is all about: giving to each other the gift of our belovedness?" (30)
• "Whether I am inflated or deflated, I lose touch with my truth and distort my vision of reality." (33)
• The voice of insecurity in our head says, "Prove that you are worth something; do something relevant, spectacular, or powerful, and then you will earn the love you so desire." (34)
• The work of building the Beloved Community: "My parents, friends, teachers, students, and the many strangers who crossed my path have all sounded that voice [that calls me Beloved] in different tones. I have been cared for by many people with much tenderness and gentleness. I have been taught and instructed with much patience and perseverance. I have been encouraged to keep going when I was ready to give up and was stimulated to try again when I failed." (34-35)
• "I hear at my center words that say: 'I have called you by name, from the very beginning. You are mine and I am yours.' . . . We are one" (36-37)
• "Every time you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply." (37) This reminds me of my goal for 2019!
• "I beg you, do not surrender the word 'chosen' to the world. Dar to claim it as your own, even when it is constantly misunderstood. You must hold on to the truth that you are the chosen one. That truth is the bedrock on which you can build a life as the Beloved." (56) I think of this as "Light."
• "When we keep claiming the light, we will find ourselves becoming more and more radiant." (62)
• "Gratitude begets gratitude, just as love begets love." (62)
• "It is impossible to compete for God's love." (64)
• "We also need an ongoing blessing that allows us to hear in an ever-new way that we belong to a loving God who will never leave us alone, but will remind us always that we are guided by love on every step of our lives." (72) I felt this in 2018!
• "if you develop the discipline of spending one half-hour a day listening to the voice of love, you will gradually discover that something is happening of which you were not even conscious." (77)
• "One good way to listen is to listen with a sacred text." (78)
• "most of all the blessings that come to us through words of gratitude, encouragement, affection, and love. These many blessings do not have to be invented. They are there, surrounding us on all sides." (81)
• "Before concluding these thoughts about our being blessed, I must tell you that claiming your own blessedness always leads to a deep desire to bless others. The characteristic of the blessed ones is that, wherever they go, they always speak words of blessing. It is remarkable how easy it is to bless others, to speak good things to and about them, to call forth their beauty and truth, when you yourself are in touch with your own blessedness. The blessed one always blesses. And people want to be blessed!" (82) This one spoke to me so deeply that I almost shared it with my class. 
• "Here joy and sorrow are no longer each other's opposites, but have become two sides of the same desire to grow to the fullness of the Beloved." (99)
• "True joy, happiness, and inner peace come from the giving of ourselves to others." (109)
• "It is the gift of our own life that shines through all we do." (113)
• "Imagine that, in the center of your heart, you trust that your smiles and handshakes, your embraces and your kisses are only the early signs of a worldwide community of love and peace!" (123)
• "we are called to live our lives with a deep inner joy and peace." (129)
• "The Spirit of God, the Spirit that calls us the Beloved, is the Spirit that unites and makes whole. There is no clearer way to discern the presence of God's Spirit than to identify the moments of unification, healing, restoration, and reconciliation." (135) I annotated this passage with "This is what I believe."