Nouwen: Trees and Needing Praise
“Trees that grow tall have deep roots. Great height without great depth is dangerous. The great leaders of this world - like St. Francis, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr., - were all people who could live with public notoriety, influence, and power in a humble way because of their deep spiritual rootedness. Those who are deeply rooted in the love of God can enjoy human praise without being attached to it.” Henri Nouwen, Henri Nouwen Society, Daily Meditation, from Bread for the Journey, 1997 HarperSanFrancisco.
Nouwen gives us an amazing sign of when our connection to God is thin. When we are needing the praise and adoration of others, we are not “rooted” in God. Living off of the praise of others is living on the surface. Needing the positive opinion of others is like a “stop sign.”
Stop! We are going in the wrong direction. Turn around. Go and sit or walk outdoors. See that there in Nature is something greater than ourselves. Remember that a loving God loves us so much that God created all this for us to care for and enjoy.
Talk to a spiritual friend. Do one of the many, many spiritual exercises we most often do best to reconnect to God. Re-examine our rule of life.
Reach out in love to someone else, especially someone in need. Make eye contact. Look for the light of Christ in them. Connect the Christ in us to the Christ in the other person. I think this is one of the ways of nurturing that our souls need to make deeper roots.
Joanna joannaseibert.com