Lord, Henri Nouwen has started messing with me today. He reminds me that where I am and what I am doing is not what makes me either miserable or happy. It is insignificant compared to keeping my eyes on you. If I walk with you, I am well. All manner of things are well.He wrote, "I can be teaching at Yale, working in the bakery at the Genesee Abbey, or walking around with poor children in Peru and feel totally useless, miserable, and depressed in all these situations. I am sure of it, because it has happened. There is not such a thing as the right place or the right job. I can be happy and unhappy in all situations. I am sure of it, because it has happened.I have felt distraught and joyful in situations of abundance as well as poverty, in situations of popularity and anonymity, in situations of success and failure. The difference was never based on the situation itself, but always on my state of mind and heart. When I knew that I was walking with the Lord, I always felt happy and at peace. When I was entangled in my own complaints and emotional needs, I always felt restless and divided."
Today I am meditating on this picture I took on the trail up to the Abbey of Gethsemane in Kentucky. It's the trail, the journey that counts. Joy comes from walking in the way of Christ, not in success, accomplishment, or notariety.
