More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilage to have the time to practice the simple ministry of presence.
Still, it is not as simple as it seems.
My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up in meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause and not to feel you are working directly for social progress.
But, I wonder more and more, if the first thing that should be is to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but you truly love them,
- Henri J.M. Nouwen, Gracias, pp. 147-148
Follow me on Twitter @Dalyfocus
Follow me on Facebook
Keep up with Focus on the Family on Facebook
Janet
says:
thank you for this! i just wrote on my blog about a beautiful experience that i had on sunday morning at church when a friend lived out the essence of the gospel to me through the simple gesture of lending me her blazer -- because my shirt reeked with the stench of fish from an accidental spill during a hug with a friend moments prior.
so this ties in so beautifully to my celebration of community!
the value in "the simple ministry of presence" as nouwen so wonderfully puts it.
again, thank you.