Pam's Perambulation

Who Loves You – Day 17

•December 17, 2012 • 1 Comment

True love loves you for who you are.

Any love that loves you for what you may become, or the things you have around you, is not really love. God is not in the business of only loving us if we achieve x, fulfil y, or have z. God loves not those periphery things – but the very heart of us, the depths of who we really are when all is stripped away from us – good and bad.

Henri Nouwen reminds us of desperately running around seeking love and acceptance, asking,

Do you love me?

That is looking for the answer to the wrong question in the wrong place.

The picture that came to me yesterday was of allowing each of the holes of hurt and ‘unlove’ in to be plastered over with a new experience of love. God’s love, God’s acceptance, God peace. God saying, let’s get rid of that, allow my love and the love of those who do love you unconditionally to fill the hole, the crack, up. That may mean nothing to you, make no sense at all – but it does to me!

And so I come again, to the need to allow God to love in a way that it doesn’t matter what others think or say. I am secure in God’s love and that alone is what matters to me. I need not hear the other voices.

Running around seeking love is exhausting – and ultimately frustrating and even more hurtful, because no one will meet that need. Even the very best of human beings have their conditions. No one wants to live their life that way, and no one should.

And so we come to God, because we truly are his beloved. He has no conditions on his love.

I found this video very powerful in terms of God’s love and where it is

We can try, and fail, to find love in others, to make them accept us. We only truly find what we are looking for in the God who sees to the heart of us. It is to him we should look, and from him we will receive. Our true selves are to be found in him, and not in any mirror image of what ‘the world’ is looking for.

If you are asking the question,

To whom do I belong?

the answer is him. Look no further.

Lord,

you are what I need.

Save me for looking for the wrong thing,

from the wrong people.

Help me not be listening so hard for the affirmation of others.

that I miss the word of your love,

deep within me.

Save me from striving to do the wrong thing,

to get what I think I need.

May I come before you,

allow you to fill the holes and cracks

with the healing balm of your love

and to truly know

the depth of your love

for me

(By the way, the book today’s reading is taken from, The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming is very well worth a read)

This year for Advent, some friends and I are using Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J. M. Nouwen. You’re welcome to join us on this journey. Feel free to comment here, or on Twitter using #adventbookclub

Also blogging on the #adventbookclub are:

http://www.likeasthehart.me.uk/

http://drbexl.co.uk/

http://clairemaxim1.wordpress.com/

http://runninglife.wordpress.com/

Posted in Advent, Advent Book Club, faith, God, Religion, theology
Tags: #adventbookclub, acceptance, Advent, Henri Nouwen, love, self

Open Hearted – Day 16

•December 16, 2012 • 1 Comment

It is perfectly possible to tell someone that you love them, but what has a much more lasting effect is when you show them. When you know what they need – and do it; when you stand alongside them through thick and thin; those little actions that show you care.

Throughout the Old Testament, God sent people to tell others how much he loved them. But they never quite grasped it. In the end he had to send someone to show us – Jesus.

Martin Addison [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

And so God came – with a human heart – to show us how to live and love, and to show us the depth of God’s love for us. A human heart, that can hold our heartbreak and our joys, if only we let him. God is not aloof, sat on a cloud, pushing the world around like chess pieces. God came and lived among us, got involved in all that human life is.

God’s heart is not restrictive. He has an endless capacity to love. Just like in our families, we can always find room and love for one more person when they arrive, God has more than enough love to go round. God’s heart is open to anyone, he makes no distinctions, no judgements. God’s heart is open to welcome you, and to love you to bits.

If you’re not used to allowing people to love you, God is a safe place to start.

If you can’t believe he loves you enough – he does, he came in human form to show that love.

God is longing to love you – and me. Will we let him?

Lord God,

I thank you for the depth of your love for me.

That you don’t just talk about love,

but come into our lives to show us.

Thank you

that you are love personified,

living in the world.

This day,

this Christmas,

I open my heart to you,

and all the love you have to give me.

Matthew 11:28-30

²⁸If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest. ³⁰This yoke is easy to bear, and this burden is light.

This year for Advent, some friends and I are using Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J. M. Nouwen. You’re welcome to join us on this journey. Feel free to comment here, or on Twitter using #adventbookclub

Also blogging on the #adventbookclub are:

http://www.likeasthehart.me.uk/

http://drbexl.co.uk/

http://clairemaxim1.wordpress.com/

http://runninglife.wordpress.com/

Posted in Advent, Advent Book Club, faith, God, Jesus, Religion, theology
Tags: #adventbookclub, acceptance, Advent, Henri Nouwen, love, Matthew 11:28-30

Seeing God – Day 15

•December 15, 2012 • 2 Comments

Having lived in so many places, I often get confused when I see people. Should I know you? Do I know you? You look familiar, but am I confusing time and place?

Are people a face in the crowd. or altogether more significant to us?

I find Henri Nouwen’s words for today a touching reminder. When I encounter people, what do I see? Their appearance? Their behaviour? Or God in them?

God is coming, but at the same time he is already here. Are we looking for him? Do we notice him?

My children always used to joke that wherever we went, I would find a sermon illustration. Something in a situation would speak to me of God and his work. I’m not sure I’m quite so hot on that now…

What is God doing in the people around us? How is he coming into our lives through them and through his activity in the world? Are we recognising the coming of the Lord? Are we looking?

Mark 13:32-36

No One Knows the Day or Time

³²No one knows the day or the time. The angels in heaven don’t know, and the Son himself doesn’t know. Only the Father knows. ³³So watch out and be ready! You don’t know when the time will come. ³⁴It is like what happens when a man goes away for a while and places his servants in charge of everything. He tells each of them what to do, and he orders the guard to keep alert. ³⁵So be alert! You don’t know when the master of the house will come back. It could be in the evening or at midnight or before dawn or in the morning. ³⁶But if he comes suddenly, don’t let him find you asleep.

Lord,

I pray for you to come,

to come into my life,

to come into the world;

but as I do,

I pray that I will recognise the places where you already are,

the work you are already doing.

Make my eyes open to see you,

to recognise you,

and respond to you.

Lord

May I watch and wait,

in anticipation,

in expectation

and in realisation

This year for Advent, some friends and I are using Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J. M. Nouwen. You’re welcome to join us on this journey. Feel free to comment here, or on Twitter using #adventbookclub

Also blogging on the #adventbookclub are:

http://www.likeasthehart.me.uk/

http://drbexl.co.uk/

http://clairemaxim1.wordpress.com/

http://runninglife.wordpress.com/