Companionship

We often think that service is doing things for others. That sometimes needs to be. But service takes on its true character when we do things with others. This is never an easy road to travel. It is the slow road requiring much patience and care. It gives credit to what another may contribute. It takes on the pace of another. We find it easier to do things for others. We can then be our quick and efficient selves. We can then set the terms and conditions. We can then be available or withdraw when it suits us. Such service may make us feel good, but it frequently disempowers the other person. Nouwen, from his experience of working with mentally and physically disabled persons at L’Arche, came to realize that true service “asks for a deep inner conviction that a slow job done together is better than a fast job done alone.” Such service does not have a quick end result in view. It has a process in view. It sees service as a joining with the other. It sees service as a companionship and walking a common road for a period of time.

—Charles Ringma, Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen