Interruptions
“While visiting the University of Notre Dame, I met with an older professor and while we strolled, he said with a certain melancholy, ‘you know, my whole life, I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work.’”—Henri Nouwen in Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life (Image Books, 1975), p. 52.
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This has been my experience. I have an agenda, but I am slowly, often painfully learning that God continually meets me in the interruptions in my life that are not on my schedule. For example, there is a call from a friend or family member when I think I am too busy to talk. For me, this is a sure sign that I am in trouble, losing priorities of what life is all about if I cannot stop and talk. Interruptions are like a stop or yield sign to go off script and listen for a grace note. Nouwen calls them opportunities, especially opportunities for hospitality and novel experiences. When I return to a project after an interruption, I usually have fresh ideas. But there is that false idea that keeps ever lurking and speaking in my ear, that if I stop, I will lose my creativity or train of thought.
Interruptions remind us how powerless we are. If we think we are in charge, the interruptions remind us that this is a myth. When I seal myself off and refuse to respond to anything but what is on my schedule, I become exponentially isolated. My world, my God, has become too small. I become the center of the universe and fossilized. As a result, I develop a high hubris titer.
