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Finding My Way Home

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In you really want a feel for Nouwen's thoughts, "The Way of the Heart" is a better read. But if you want to know Nouwen's personality, "Finding My Way Home" does the job. These are four meditations on the facts of life from a spiritual leader, Harvard and Yale prof, and follower of Jesus. The only real tie that binds the essays is the heart of the writer, as these were collected and published five years after his death in 1996.

They are titled The Paths of Power, Peace, Waiting, and Living and Dying. By far, the most interesting and insightful is The Path to Peace, a largely autobiographical reflection on the ten years Nouwen spent working with the mentally disabled. He describes how his friend Adam, who was entirely dependent and who could not communicate, brought peace to the home in which they worked by uniting them in a service for which none of them could take real credit. This is a stark contrast to the Path of Power, through which people try to assert themselves in the world (unlike Jesus). The reflection on waiting is a quiet thought on solitude, and the last essay on death reflects on how to give one's death as a gift to those left behind.

Don't know that Nouwen himself had plans to publish these thoughts, as they seem to be breakfast table musings rather than polished essays. I would recommend Nouwen's other works before this one, and save this one for the devotees.

Life is a constant journey to find ourselves and God's purpose. We live in a culture that measures the value of someone on degrees of success. Nouwen forces us to look from a God centered perspective.

All of Mr Nouwen's books have left a very impressionable footprint on my spiritual path; he is quite profound.