Something to think about ...

Ihave been reflecting on true freedom and was reminded of something Henri Nouwen wrote several years ago: “The words of Jesus, ‘Set your hearts on God’s kingdom first… and all other things will be given to you as well,’ summarize best the way we are called to live our lives. With our hearts set on God’s kingdom. That kingdom is not some faraway land that we hope to reach, nor is it life after death or an ideal state of affairs. No. God’s kingdom is, first of all, the active presence of God’s spirit within us, offering us the freedom we truly desire.

And so the main question becomes: How to set our hearts on the kingdom first when our hearts are preoccupied with so many things? Somehow a radical change of heart is required, a change that allows us to experience the reality of our existence from God’s place.

Once I saw a mime in which a man was straining to open one of the three doors in the room where he found himself. He pushed and pulled at the doorknobs, but none of the doors would open. Then he kicked with his feet against the wooden panels of the door, but they didn’t break. Finally, he threw his full weight against the doors, but none of them yielded.

It was a ridiculous, yet very hilarious sight, because the man was so concentrated on the three locked doors that he didn’t even notice that the room had no back wall and that he could simply walk out if he would only turn around and look!

That is what conversion is all about. It is a complete turnaround that allows us to discover that we are not the prisoners we think we are. From God’s place, we often look like the man who tries to open the locked doors of his room. We worry about many things and even wound ourselves while worrying.

God says: ‘Turn around, set your hearts on my kingdom. I give you all the freedom you desire.’” ~ From Here and Now: Living in the Spirit by Henri Noun