By Henri Nouwen

“Life without self-reflection leads to losing your way. The quiet place not only helps us to develop a sense of our own separateness and identity; it also helps us to identify and to deal with the issues that cause us pain and sadness. Then we can deal with our anger and discover creative ways to deal with difficulty.’

“But the quiet place or center is not simply the place where we overcome difficulties. It is there where we gain new inspiration and direction. It’s not the quiet place itself that produces this “zen”. We ourselves cannot produce this. The quiet place is not the place of cleverness where we sort ourselves out and come up with marvelous answers.’

“The quiet place is the place of humility. The place of prayer. The place where we realize our limitations. It is the place where we ask questions of ourselves. Where we ask the Holy Spirit to reveal things to us. Where we learn to listen to our often-repressed inner voice. Where our conscience is listened to. Where forgiveness predominates. And where creative solutions and answers emerge through inspiration and revelation. “

And, where God’s unconditional love dwells inside.  

Pastor Art

Henri Nouwen was a Dutch priest, professor, writer, and theologian. 1932-1996