Nouwen: Trees, Roots, 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 in Bread for the Journey (HarperSanFrancisco, 1997).
Nouwen gives us a remarkable sign of when our connection to God is thin. When we need the praise and adoration of others, we are not “rooted” in God. Living off the recognition of others is living on the surface. Needing the favorable 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 spiritual exercises we most often practice 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. These are ways our souls will extend and enlarge to nurture deeper roots.
As our roots grow in our spiritual community, we receive an extra bonus. Note in this last image how other roots begin to connect to each other and share nourishment. And so with us. As our roots grow, we connect to others in our community who support and nourish us as we do with them.
