Devotions from Henri Nouwen’s book, The Inner Voice of Love

Today’s devotion is on accepting our true identity as a child of God. Once we have settled in it, we can live in a world that gives us much joy as well as pain.  Our true identity that makes us free is anchored beyond all human praise and blame.  We belong to God and we are sent out into the world.  But we need guidance and people who can keep us anchored in our true identity. The temptation is to disconnect from that deep place in us where God dwells and to let ourselves be drowned in the praise or blame of the world.  But only God can fully dwell in that deepest place in us and give us a sense of safety. We must guard against the danger that we will let others run away with our sacred center.  It takes time to fully reconnect our deep hidden self with our public self, but gradually we become more fully who we truly are as a child of God. That is where our freedom lies.