Buying The Field

You can always count on Henri for a passing thought that will give you enough vision to walk out a few more steps. Here’s one that I remembered today:

“You have found a treasure: the treasure of God’s love. You know now where it is, but you are not yet ready to own it fully. So many attachments keep pulling you away. If you would fully own your treasure, you must hide it in the field where you found it, go off happily to sell everything you own and then come back and buy the field.”
-- Henri Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love

I don’t think I’ve ever heard the parable of the treasure in a field expounded upon more clearly than this. The economy of the whole exchange today seems vivid: by possessing whatever it is I esteem of high value now I actually inhibit myself from possessing that which is of preeminent value. So much of what I call “the dream of my heart” is by comparison to my invitation a trinket, not a treasure. And when I encounter truth, like in a Henri excerpt, I experience that wonderful feeling of energy and passion for lesser pursuits suddenly draining out of my being and through the floor. Though I’m only left with wanting, it feels more defined that it was a moment ago in that I know what-- or shall I say Who-- I want, maybe for the first time in days.

And then, having been purged, I can again go back to the business of pursing what is mine by invitation. borrowed w/o permission from the blog of:Bret and Brandie Mavrich,
Intercessory Missionaries