The Journey: A Shared Life

Categoriesindividuals by

A shared life or an isolated life? 

I have found over and over again how hard it is to be truly faithful to Jesus
when I am alone. I need my brothers and sisters to pray with me, to speak with me about the spiritual task at hand, and to challenge me to stay pure in mind, heart, and body.

Fr. Henri Nouwen

The Quiet Drift Toward Isolation

Many of us are startled and saddened by the degree of aloneness we experience in adulthood. We didn’t expect it. From the outside, it seems like family and work and church would provide a vital sense of being known. For many, though, the reality of our demanding lives keeps us skimming across the surface of our relationships. Our intentions for faithful living and service are well-meaning, even noble, but our individualistic approaches prove inadequate to the task. We have consciously or unconsciously sought to make it on our own and have found, over time, our lives desperately lacking, our souls wanting. Sadly, the tale of an individual human life is too often told as a sequence of independent and unshared moments.

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CategoriesSpiritual Conversation by

“It happened again.”

“It happened again,” were the words with which Richard started his story that day. 

 

He told me how he and his wife had a dinner date over the weekend with another couple from church—“All in all, a less than satisfying dinner conversation.” 

 

Richard elaborated on how he and his wife felt they had asked all the questions, showing interest in their friends, drawing them out, and learning more about the couple’s experiences and perspectives on various topics. Yet their curiosity was never reciprocated; no questions were asked of Richard or his wife, and very little interest in them was expressed by this other couple. 

 

“It all felt like a one-way street of interest,” Richard paused and then continued, “A disappointing but not unfamiliar experience.”

 

These sorts of conversations were sadly all too common, according to Richard. “This same experience is frequent enough,” Richard shared with me,  “that my wife and I have developed a shorthand descriptor for it. When we get back in the car after the meal or when one of us returns from a coffee conversation, either my wife or I say—It happened again.” 

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