Tag Archives: friendship

In connection we find life

Every person is in relation to other human beings. How people treated us taught us how to relate. We tend to take relationships for granted and to presume that they will always be there until we get hurt. In our busy lifestyles we can forget that in order for relationships to thrive they need to be nurtured. 

As with the food we eat, we can get by on very basic nutrition. We’re not meant to simply survive on junk food. We all know what a specially-prepared meal does for us. It’s a delight for our senses, giving us joy and feeding us at more levels than simply physically.

Similarly, in order to be nourished by relationships, we need ongoing, intentional investment in them. Continue reading In connection we find life

Loneliness or Aloneness

In order to become aware of the inner patterns and guiding images we all carry, we need to stop and look.  This will need times of being alone with ourselves in order to grow in wholeness.  This is essential so that we can also be there for others.  This aloneness is a transformative, ‘pregnant’ waiting.  It is not the same as loneliness, which carries with it feelings of lack, desperation and incompleteness.  We dare not postpone living, waiting for our dream to materialize and for our present life to pass.  This invitation to deepen intimacy with God and ourselves is done reverently, but not without fear.  Indeed, intimacy implies this as ‘in timor’ means ‘into fear.’ Continue reading Loneliness or Aloneness