Recently a new friend and I were talking about our shared love of the writings of Henri Nouwen. He wrote about things of the heart and of knowing who you really are from an incredibly humble perspective. I’ll never forget when my bestie gave me the best literary gift ever, a copy of “The Inner Voice Of Love: A Journey Through Anguish To Freedom.” At first I might have been slightly turned of by the title. As a serious student of counseling, I was offended by the self-help genre. (Really, where is the job security for me in that?!) But that tiny little book soon became my journal and I wrote in the margins and practically underlined every word (I was still in school at the time and obsessively underlined everything. Even shopping lists. Sick.) I felt as though Henri was addressing every insecurity, every thought I had at the time with some kind of literary hug. Oh, tender.

Based on our pondering of Henri’s type of thinking, Cabe and I came up with a term to refer to the best kinds of people we meet- “heart people.” They are hard to find but when you meet one, your life becomes undeniably better. Heart people have this magic ability to understand who you really are and to have enough compassion to accept you truly “as is”- and then make you feel as though you are the greatest person who has ever lived EVEN THOUGH they know all your junk. Magic.

So, in honor of the two visitors we will have this week who love well, I leave you with Henri’s words and sincerely hope that you encounter a heart person very, very soon.

“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing… not healing, not curing… that is a friend who cares.”

…gets me every time…sniffle, sniffle. XOXO Henri.