Jesus felt genuine love for this man as he looked at him. "You lack only one thing," he told him. "Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Mark 10:21 (New Living Translation)
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"It may come as a shock, but we are often too full of ourselves, too preoccupied with our own activities, and too full of our own plans and desires. Even our activities on behalf of others can often reflect much of our own need for fulfillment or recognition. And our relationship with God frequently pivots around our own prayers, needs, and projects. We are therefore persons without space and room, and consequently we lack flexibility and maneuverability.
We therefore need to be, as it were, pried loose from ourselves. Nouwen, in speaking of prayer as a way to solitude, challenges us to be willing to open our tightly clenched fist and "give up [our] last coin." So often we receive nothing from our spiritual exercises because we have not created any open spaces in our lives. We are too full. We may want to receive, but we certainly do not want anything to be taken away.
God can hardly fill our hands with the good things of His love and grace while our hands are full with our own things. Therefore, in our search for inner peace and strength, we need to learn the gentle but difficult art of relinquishment as much as we need to seek God's empowerment."
"Too Full: Learning to Become Empty", Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen by Charles Ringma (Pinon Press).
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