Discernment: Reading the Signs of Daily Life

by Henri J.M. Nouwen

At the core of my faith belongs the conviction that we are the beloved sons and daughters of God. What the Father said to Jesus the Son, God also says to us: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased”(Luke 3:22 NRSV). Dear friends, I want you to hear this: what is said of Jesus is said of you. I know this can be hard to affirm. You are the beloved daughter or son of God. Can you believe it? Can you hear it not only in your head through your physical ears but in your gut, hear it so that your whole life can be turned around? Go to the scriptures and read: “I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have written your name in the palm of my hand from all eternity. I have molded you in the depths of the earth and knitted you in your mother’s womb. I love you. I embrace you. You are mine and I am yours and you belong to me.” You have to hear this, because if you can hear this divine voice speak to you from all eternity, then your life will become more and more the life of the beloved, because that is who you are. When you start believing this, this spiritual knowledge will grow until it transforms your daily life. You will still have rejections and you will still have pain and losses, but you will live them no longer as a person searching for his or her identity. You will live them as the beloved. You will live your pain and anguish, your successes and failures, as one who knows who you are. And that’s not easy. Most of us constantly fail to claim the truth of ...