Friday, May 17, 2024

Dear God,

I am reading The Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen as one of my devotional books.  This morning it came to me that we can't expect to be welcomed home unless we are willing to welcome others home.  It is like wanting to receive love but withholding love from others.  I have to admit there are some I do not want to embrace in welcome.

O Lord, I long to have your arms around me.  At times I am desperately alone.  Yet, there are some I could not bear to embrace.  I do not want to welcome those who have hurt me deeply.  While I believe you love those as much as you love me, I just have great difficulty loving them too.  I need to have your compassionate heart beating in place of my own.

I fail

to love

at times,

O God.

I want

to have

a loving heart.

It is

just that

the risk

is too great.

Teach me

how to love,

Great Lover of Creation.

Yours, Andrea