This summer I have been reading “Life of the Beloved” by Henri Nouwen.  The book has blessed me greatly and I wanted to share some of the thoughts with my LifeNow followers, so most of this article will be the thoughts of Henri Nouwen with a little commentary by meJ.

 

Nouwen begins by asserting “the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection.”  It is possible that underlying feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness actually become the drivers behind our quest for success, power or popularity and even become the reason we seek escape through self-medicating.  

 

The powerful antidote to this problem of self-rejection is the truth that we are God’s beloved, we have been chosen by Him.  He has “noticed me in my uniqueness and has expressed a desire to know me, to come closer to me, to love me.”  These two truths; our feelings of self-rejection and the truth of our chosenness, create the great spiritual battle, the battle to reclaim our chosenness (to believe we ARE the beloved). 

 

Nouwen formulates three very helpful guidelines for this battle.  

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Chosen