Day 9

In yesterday's reading in Show Me the Way by Nouwen, he wrote of the power of what happens in our lives when we have those clear moments of realization that God exists. When we can say that with every ounce of our being, we move the spotlight from ourselves and onto God. No longer are we the center of existence - God is. Nouwen calls these moments life-converting experiences, and describes the converted person like this:

The converted person does not say that nothing matters any more, but that everything that is happens in God and that he is the dwelling place where we come to know the true order of things.

Instead of saying, "Nothing matters any more, since I know that God exists," the converted person says: "All is now clothed in divine light and therefore nothing can be unimportant."

The converted person sees, hears, and understands with a divine eye, a divine ear, a divine heart.

The converted person knows himself or herself and all the world in God.

The converted person is where God is, and from that place everything matters: giving water, clothing the naked, working for a new world order, saying a prayer, smiling at a child, reading a book, and sleeping in peace.

All has become different while all remains the same.

All has become different while all remains the same.