The Path of Peace

I recently read Henri Nouwen's little book The Path of Peace, an inspiring reflection on our need of God and how recognising that takes us down the path of peace. So often we measure ourselves by our achievements. As Nouwen puts it: "Most of my past life has been built around the idea that my value depends on what I do." We need to learn that there is much more to life than that and that the things that matter the most are not measured by what we achieve.  It is important to recognise that "what makes us human is not our minds but our hearts, not our ability to think but our ability to love."

We try to work things out for ourselves. "With many others, I wanted to become a self-sufficient star." However, the important thing to understand is that peace is actually found in vulnerability and that we find things working out when we realise how dependent we are on God. What we find then "is a peace not constructed by tough competition, hard thinking, and individual stardom, but rooted in simply being present to each other, a peace that speaks about the first love of God by which we are all held and a peace that keeps calling us to community, a fellowship of the weak."