Life of the Beloved (4)

I've been mulling over. slowly absorbing this last movement in the life of the beloved: "being given". "All we live finds its final significance in its being lived for others: becoming bread for the world." We are called to give ourselves in life and in death.

In life, our real gift is not so much what we can do but who we are. This turns the tables counterculturally. As is true of our society in general, we are more amazed by doings than by beings. We tend to miss the quiet person, who does not have many obvious talents but who is faithfully there at every meeting. Or the student who is not the top scorer but who has less obvious gifts. Living with people with handicaps helped Nouwen understand what true giving involves. "Who can we be for each other?" We may have only a few talents, but we have many gifts. We need others to help us share these ways in which we express our humanity. Often people focus on our talents and when we can no longer 'do' much, we are soon forgotten and set aside. True gifts often remain buried beneath our talents - they are part of who we are - friendship, kindness, patience, joy, peace, forgiveness, gentleness, love, hope, trust and so on.....

Our final brokenness, death, is to become the means to our final gift of self. "For beloved sons and daughters of God, dying is the gateway to the complete experience of being the beloved." To die a good death is to let go of life in freedom so that we can be given to others as a source of hope. The death of the beloved bears fruit in many lives - every little movement of love we make will ripple out into ever new and wider circles. Indeed that was the life of Henri Nouwen - his words that came out of his many joys and sorrows have brought hope and light in the lives of so many who have never even met him in person.

Last week I managed to start on my little Word document file titled "Funeral preparations" and informed my sons to look for it after I pass into the everlasting arms......Maybe it is my need to be prepared for things - also stirred up by these reminders of the life of belovedness that even death is a gift, if life is lived faithfully in becoming the beloved.