“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 in Bread for the Journey (HarperSanFrancisco, 1997).
joanna campbell
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. Recognize that there dwells in nature something greater than ourselves. Remember that a loving God has our welfare so completely in mind 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 practice in order to reconnect to God. Reexamine your rule of life.
Reach out in love to someone else, especially someone in need. Make eye contact. Look for the light of Christ in that person. Connect the Christ in us to the Christ in the other person. I think this is one of the ways that our souls need to extend and enlarge in order to nurture deeper roots.
Joanna . joannaseibert.com
Book Signing Wordsworth Books
Saturday, November 2, 2019 1 to 3 pm
Just in time for the holidays
A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany
The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter
Both are $18. Money from sale of the books goes to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in
The Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast