God’s Way to “Home”
Have you ever wondered about your path and purpose in life? What you were meant to be, meant to do? Which road to follow? What life choices to make? This can be a difficult task for many of us. As a person of faith, I have come to believe that God weaves Himself throughout our lives, helping and directing our paths. God’s Way to “Home,” to our ultimate purpose can be experienced in some of the most surprising and amazing ways.
A reading challenge
I’d like to share a personal story that illustrates what I believe is an example of experiencing the evidence of God’s work in my life. It begins with a simple reading challenge. Since retirement from my clinical social work private practice, I have renewed my love of reading. For enjoyment and motivation, I participate in several reading challenges each month. In 2021, I decided to participate in a year-long reading challenge I first viewed on YouTube, called the 2021 Read Your Bookshelf Challenge, hosted by Chantel at An Intentional Life. In this challenge, Chantel provides monthly prompts to read books that you already own on your bookshelf. The January 2021 prompt was to read a book with a “Home-ish” word in the title.
The journey begins
I searched my bookshelves, but couldn’t find any book with a “Home-ish” word in the title. From there, I thought that I’d check my husband’s bookshelves too. At first glance there was nothing. But he has several shelves that have books placed two rows deep. I moved the first row of books and still could find nothing. But, somehow I found myself drawn to a small book in the back of the bookshelf that was titled The Return Of The Prodigal Son by Henri J.M. Nouwen. When I looked at the cover, I found that the full title of the book was The Return Of The Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming. There it was! A book with a “Home-ish” word in the title. Again, I felt drawn to this book belonging to my husband and decided that it would be my January 2021 read for this challenge. Then I opened the book. Inside I found a bright yellow post-it-note in my husband’s handwriting that said, “Read what is highlighted here Jeanine. Love, David.” You can probably guess my absolute surprise at finding this note inside this book that was tucked into the back row of a bookshelf that I would not have even searched for had it not been for this reading challenge. But what was even more surprising was what my husband had highlighted. Before I share this, let me tell you a little more about this book and about it’s author.
A little bit about Henri J.M. Nouwen and the book
Henri J.M. Nouwen was born in the Netherlands in 1932 and died in 1996. He was best known as a Catholic priest, psychologist, writer, and theologian. He taught at the University of Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School, and Harvard Divinity School. Later in his life he also served as the pastor of L’Arche Daybreak, a community with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, in Richmond Hill, Ontario. A prolific author, he published 39 books and numerous papers and articles during his lifetime. One of his best known books is The Return Of The Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming.
This book is based on a meditation arising from seeing a reproduction of Rembrandt’s famous painting, The Return Of The Prodigal Son.
“In seizing the inspiration that came to him through Rembrandt’s depiction of the powerful Gospel story, Henri Nouwen probes the several movements of the parable: the younger son’s return, the father’s restoration of sonship, the elder son’s vengefulness, and the father’s compassion. The themes of homecoming, affirmation, and reconciliation will be newly discovered by all who have known loneliness, dejection, jealousy, or anger.”
From the back cover of The Return Of The Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming by Henri J.M. Nouwen
The journey continues
My husband knows that I have had struggles in my life. Pain issues, stress, grief, low self-esteem. Some of the same kinds of struggles that many of us experience. But my husband also knows how important my faith is to me, as a strength and support. So, he highlighted a section of this book (at some point in time) and on this day I found the book and the note and the highlighted passages. Let me quote a few of these passages.
“Constantly I am tempted to wallow in my own lostness and lose touch with my original goodness, my God-given humanity, my basic blessedness, and thus allow the powers of death to take charge. This happens over and over again whenever I say to myself: ‘I am no good. I am useless. I am worthless. I am unlovable. I am a nobody.'”
“But when God created man and woman in his own image, he saw that ‘it was very good,’ and, despite the dark voices, no man or woman can ever change that.”
The Return Of The Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming by Henri J.M. Nouwen, pp. 50-51
I began to wonder
After experiencing all of these events, the reading challenge, discovering the book, finding the note inside and the highlighted passages, I began to think of God’s plan for my life. I had no idea how long ago my husband wrote that note and highlighted the passages. He doesn’t recall when, but we suspect it may have been years earlier. I wondered if this was an example of how God quietly guides our paths? I decided to stop and listen and read. Henri Nouwen’s book touched me. It resonated with me and brought me to tears on several occasions. It was what I needed to pull at my heart strings and open me up to experiencing the next chapter of my life. To ponder what is important. To consider what to let go and what to hang on to. To be grateful and to learn the lessons I need to learn to reach a place of real peace.
The journey is not over
I had thought that reading this book, with all of it’s accompanying surprises was what God had intended for me to experience (and then to share). But, it doesn’t end there. Because, one day I was thinking about this experience while listening to a Christian radio station. The radio host began talking about all of the blessings we have received in our lives. To illustrate this, a song was played that was new to me. It brought me to tears and filled my heart with such joy. It reminded me that my journey is not over. I’d like to share Josh Baldwin’s song, Evidence, with you in hopes that it may also bring you joy.
God’s way to “Home”
Before I close, I invite you to imagine a beautiful tapestry. A tapestry, perhaps very old and precious, that is hanging on a wall in an ancient home. It has beautiful designs and images on it, made with richly colored threads woven together in intricate patterns. It is perfect. Now, imagine that you carefully take the tapestry off of the wall and gently turn it over. On the underside of the tapestry all you can see is a jumble, a confusion of colored threads. They do not create any beautiful images or designs. They make no sense at all.
In our lives, we often only see the underside of that tapestry. We cannot see how the confusion of threads makes any sense. But, God sees the true work of art. He weaves our lives in ways that we may not understand, as He is leading our paths to create who we really are. Masterpieces.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
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