To Remind You of Your Magnificence

When I was writing my book Gay is a GIFT, I was inspired by Henri Nouwen, a twentieth-century Catholic priest, best-selling spiritual author, and gay man.

I read in Michael Ford's biography of Henri, entitled Wounded Prophet, that Henri was planning on writing a book about spirituality and homosexuality before his death. Since Henri never got to write that book, I decided I would.

I placed the icon of Henri pictured here on the desk next to me as I wrote the book. As I was writing, I kept singing two songs in my head, songs we sing at Unity.

One is "I'm Here to Remind You," which says, "I'm here to remind you of your magnificence. To help you awake to all the wonder that you are. I long to show you all the joy you're worthy of. I'm here to remind you just how much you're truly loved."

The other song is "How Could Anyone," which says, "How could anyone ever tell you you are anything less than beautiful? How could anyone ever tell you you are less than whole? How could anyone fail to notice that your loving is a miracle. How deeply you're connected to my soul."

I thought I would open and close my book with these two songs. And - in another case of Synchro-Divinity - I came to discover that both songs were written by gay people! The former by David Ault (that's his photo here) and the latter by Libby Roderick.

Shortly after that, I came across a used copy of a book David had written a few years back called "Where Regret Cannot Find Me." After purchasing it, I opened it up and found that it was an autographed copy. Inside, David had inscribed the book to a "Henri." He wrote, "For Henri - Knowing your path is filled with great love! All the best, David."

Isn't this synchro-Divinity stuff so cool?!!