I Don’t Have to Know It

“Certainly praying takes some admissions, that is, recognition of your state as a man. But this admission does not lead to shame, to a feeling of worthlessness or despair, but rather to the discovery that you are a man and God is God.

To pray is to walk in the full light of God. At that moment, conversion occurs, the restoration of the true relationship.

This conversion brings with it the relaxation which lets you breathe again and puts you at rest in the embrace of a forgiving God. The experience results in a calm and simple joy. For then you can say: ‘I don’t know the answer and I can’t do this thing, but I don’t have to know it, and I don’t have to be able to do it.'”

-Henri Nouwen

Restoration

I heard a message at church last weekend that made a real impact on me.

The focus was on the importance of restoration in our interpersonal relationships – whether with family, friends, loved ones, or whomever it might be. The importance of ‘making peace’ by coming to one another with love and humility instead of doing the opposite with avoidance or combativeness.