Identity and Achievement at L'Arche

All of us struggle with our own desires for accomplishment and ambition. Christians especially find it difficult to discern their own worldly ambitions vs. following Jesus’ comand to seek first the kingdom of God (Matt.6:3). The author and scholar Henri Nouwen documents his own struggle with this tension after leaving the lofty ivory towers of academia to work in a house for mentally disabled adults. He describes this struggle in the book “In the Name of Jesus”:

The first thing that struck me when I came to live in a house with mentally handicapped people was that their liking or disliking me had absolutely nothing to do with any of the many useful things I had done until then. Since nobody could read my books, they could not impress anyone, and since most of them never went to school, my twenty years at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard did not provide a significant introduction. My considerable ecumenical experience proved even less valuable. Not being able to use any of the skills that had proved so practical in the past was a real source of anxiety. In a way it seemed as though I was starting my life all over again.

In his early days at L’Arche, Nouwen struggled with his identity and vocation as he made the transition from teaching to working among some of the “least of these”. How have you managed your own sense of call, seeking God’s kingdom, and your own worldly ambitions?