I was reading Henri Nouwen's book With Burning Hearts, a meditation on the eucharistic life. He writes of when Jesus walked with the disciples on the road to Emmaus and then broke bread with them. Another reminder, that whispers to me of the presence of Christ in the ordinary, the sacredness of homes and familes. As I stirred, measure, and kneaded the dough that will become the bread we use to fill our stomachs, I pondered the words of Nouwen that I had read only minutes before.
"What we desire is not simply to give food, but to give ourselves"
As my hands pushed the dough down again, I wondered who would take this loaf and break it. Whose stomachs would the bread fill? Would we be in conversation while the bread was eaten? The words of Nouwen spoke into my life, they gave words to my desire to open this home and share this food with whomever passes by. It allowed the simple bread, the process of creating the bread, all to become a tangible way of seeing God's sacred work in the ordinary.
All of which speak to the very essence of the longing within my heart. The longing to know the heart of God, not just know it in terms of knowledge but in ways of letting it permeate all of who I am. It is opening my eyes to the work of Emmanuel, God with us. Even in the most ordinary parts of life.
It is the story of God who wants to come close to us, so close that we can see him with our own eyes, hear him with our own ears, touch him with our hands; so close that there is nothing between us and him, nothing that separates, nothing that divides, nothing that creates distance. Jesus is God for us, God with us, God within us.
Quotes from With Burning Hearts by Henri J.M. Nouwen
