One of my greatest simple pleasures is to browse through thrift shops. Not the franchise ones like Goodwill or Salvation Army, but the more charitable ones. The shops that provide a variety of ministries to those that are in need. The ones that can only afford a small hole in the wall because all their profits are truly used to minister to the needs of others. The ones that are dusty and cramped and full of treasures to be recycled. These are the types of  ’thrift stores’ that I love.

When I set foot into these stores I am on the lookout for all things unique for my garden and obscure books that no one loves anymore.

Last week I picked up a book because it was small, it was old, and I could not read the title or author unless I picked it up and held it close. These are the ones that I usually find are ‘keepers’, and this one did not disappoint.

It is a small treasure by one of my favorite (again with the favorite!) authors, Henri J.M. Nouwen. The title of the book is “Making All Things New: An Invitation to the Spiritual Life“‘.

This morning I wasn’t motivated to dive into my current ‘quiet time’ book so I picked up “Making All Things New: An Invitation to the Spiritual Life” from my side table and began reading the words of  Henri J. M. Nouwen.

The following is part of the conclusion based on the first chapter of the book. I am genuinely compelled to share it with you. I don’t want to paraphrase the content as I am fearful that it will lose its impact, so with great respect for Mr. Nouwen’s God given ability to meet people where they are and lead them to the one person that can give them what they long for, I will gladly share with you what I read this morning. To understand how timeless this treasure is, keep in mind that it was written in 1981:

“Today worrying means to be occupied and preoccupied with many things, while at the same time being bored, resentful, depressed and very lonely. I am not trying to say that all of us are worried in such an extreme way all the time. Yet, there is little doubt in my mind that the experience of being filled yet unfulfilled touches most of us to some degree at some time. In our highly technological and competitive world, it is hard to avoid completely the forces which fill up our inner and outer space and disconnect us from our innermost selves, our fellow human beings, and our God.

One of the most notable characteristics of worrying is that it fragments our lives. The many things to do, to think about, to plan for, the many people to remember, to visit, or to talk with, the many causes to attack or defend, all these pull us apart and make us lose our center. Worrying causes us to be “all over the place,” but seldom at home. One way to express the spiritual crisis of our time is to say that most of us have an address but cannot be found there. We know where we belong, but we keep being pulled away in many directions, as if we were still homeless. “All these other things” keep demanding out attention. They lead us so far from home that we eventually forget our true address, that is, the place where we can be addressed.

Jesus responds to this condition of being filled yet unfulfilled, very busy yet unconnected, all over the place yet never at home. He wants to bring us to the place where we belong. But his call to live a spiritual life can only be heard when we are willing honestly to confess our own homeless and worrying existence and recognize its fragmenting effect on our daily life. Only then can a desire for our true home develop. It is of this desire that Jesus speaks when he says, “Do not worry…Set your hearts on his kingdom first…and all these other things will be given you as well.”  Henri J.M. Nouwen from Making All Things New:An Invitation to the Spiritual Life

Doesn’t that just make you want to forget to go to work and spend the day reading the rest of the book?  It does me. Catch y’all later, I have some more reading to do.

Hope you can separate yourself from your busyness for a moment and check out the Henri Nouwen Society webpage. Let me know what you think.

No worries,