Daily Devotion - Friday, February 25

This is the Moment

This is the last devotion for this week using Henri Nouwen’s book, Here and Now, as our “textbook”. I hope you have gained some insights from these devotions.

“Moments of true compassion will remain engraved
on our hearts as long as we live.
Often these are moments without words:
moments of deep silence.”

Noise, noise, noise. Everywhere there is noise. I remember a young man who felt totally abandoned one day back in the early 1980s. As he described it, he thought he was going crazy and his body started shaking out of control. He started crying, then screaming, then pounding the walls with his fists and then his feet. He had to be placed in isolation. It was a scary time for him and an equally scary time for several of us who just stayed there with him. We didn't say anything, we were just there with him. A couple of hours later, he calmed down. We simply sat on the floor with him, gave him some water and said nothing. Simple silence. Safe silence.

He began to get better in the weeks that followed. He said what helped him was that we stayed with him and didn't say anything. The friendship grew immensely. I'm glad we were silent. Who do you need to just spend some time with this weekend? Enjoy each moment as you practice compassionate care with other important participants on the life journey.

--Ben Keckler
02.25.11