My friend Ivey reminded me of this quote over a month ago, and the ideas here keep returning to me, almost daily. Ideas really are like seeds, that take root internally and nourish us and speak to our inner life without any prompting from my will or reason.
From Henri Nouwen's The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey through Anguish to Freedom Doubleday, 1996, page 59
"Do not hesitate to love and to love deeply. You might be afraid of the pain that deep love can cause. When those you love deeply reject you, leave you, or die, your heart will be broken. But that should not hold you back form loving deeply. The pain that comes from deep love makes your love ever more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to allow the seed to take root and grow into a strong plant. Every time you experience the pain of rejection, absence, or death, you are faced with a choice. You can become bitter and decide not to love again, or you can stand straight in your pain and let the soil on which you stand become richer and more able to give life to new seeds.
The more you have loved and have allowed your self to suffer because of your love, the more you will be able to let your heart grow wider and deeper. When your love is truly giving and receiving, those whom you live will not leave your heart even when they depart from you. They will become part of your self and thus gradually build a community within you."