nouwen

When our need leads us to grab desperately for a place, when our unhealed wounds 
determine the atmosphere around us, we become anxious. But then we let our hurt 
remind us of our need for healing. As we dance and walk forward, grace provides 
the ground on which our steps fall. Prayer puts us in touch with the God of the 
Dance. We look beyond our experience of sadness or loss by learning to receive 
an all-embracing love, a love that meets us in everyday moments.

And so we wait patiently, if the situation requires it, watching for gifts to 
come where we are. Look at the wonderful exuberant flowers painted by Vincent 
Van Gogh. What grief, what sadness, what melancholy he experienced in his 
difficult life! Yet what beauty, what ecstasy! Our glory is hidden in our pain, 
if we allow God to bring the gift of himself in our experience of it. If we turn 
to God, not rebelling against our hurt, we let God transform it into greater 
good. We let others join us and discover it with us.

Nouwen