Nouwen Insight

My friend, John, sent me the following words of Henri Nouwen, and I set them out for you. I see something new every time I read it.

A man with hopes does not get tangled up with concerns for how his wishes will be fulfilled. So, too, his prayer is not directed toward the gift, but toward the one who gives it. His is not a question of having a wish come true but of expressing an unlimited faith in the giver of good things. You wish that . . . but you hope for . . . For the prayer of hope, it is essential that there are no guarantees asked, no conditions posed, and no proofs demanded, only that you expect everything from the other without binding him in any way. Hope is based on the premise that the other gives only what is good. Hope includes an openness by which you wait for the other to make his loving promise come true, even though you never know when, where, or how this might happen.