Singleton: Cheerios

Singleton: Gratitude and Cheerios

“You never get it all done.” Betsy Singleton Snyder,  Stepping on Cheerios.

Methodist minister, mother of four boys, including triplets, and wife of a then member of Congress tells us what it is like to stay connected to God in the midst of daily chaos.  Some of Betsy’s other favorite suggestions in Stepping on Cheerios are  you “take sorta kinda breaks,” “have family movie night as a spiritual practice,” “be just yourself and nothing else,”  “nurture something with your kids,”  “do less comparing,” and “stop more.” “God made bossy moms” and “everyone screws up” are two other  examples of her wisdom that resonated with me.

One of the parts of Betsy’s book I treasured is what she calls “the Squad.” This is an extensive list and description of people who helped her out especially  after she had a serious medical complication of pregnancy and times when her husband, Victor, was in Washington or meeting with his constituents at home.

Betsy and her family are a major  example of what living in community is like. Not all of us will have triplets, but all will at some time need the support and love of a community as Betsy found. It makes all the difference as we receive help until we as well can again help others.  We become more open to seeing the love of Christ in our neighbor who reaches out to us. We in turn, learn from our neighbor more about the Christ in ourselves who guides us to that life giving and sacred place of gratitude.

This is a major theme of Betsy’s book. She sees lessons in a multitude of situations presented to her and always moves out of them with gratitude. Gratitude for those who help her, gratitude for lessons she has learned, gratitude for the love of God shown to her family by so many. Her last chapter is titled, “My Cup Runneth Over,” as she thanks so many for making her dreams come true.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Charleston: We are not done yet

Charleston: We are not done yet

“We are not done yet. .We may count our progress in inches. We may swim against the deep tides of greed and hate, but we are not done yet. Even if we do not live to see it all, we will be content to be the inspiration, to give all we have to free our world from fear.” Steven Charleston, Daily Facebook Page

Bishop Charleston gives us encouragement during difficult times when we are discouraged. This is why God constantly calls us to community. When  our lights are dim, we feel we have lost our connection to God, we feel we have not accomplished anything, in fact we believe we are failures, there are others in our community whose lights are on, who are more connected to God, who can encourage and support us until we see a different picture. They are like Simon of Cyrene, briefly carrying our cross. They are like the friends of the paralytic lifting him through the rooftop to Jesus.  Then in turn as we heal, it will be our turn to be the encourager.

Often people come for spiritual direction or meet with spiritual friends who indeed have been burned out or feel their life or their ministry is not accomplishing what they had hoped. That is our job as spiritual friends, to show each other where indeed God is working in our lives and how important it is for us to continue to be an inspiration to each other, remembering that we may not see the results. The results may be apparent much later, long after we have lived our lives and our names have been forgotten.

As I grow older, I seem more vividly to remember the people, the teachers, my grandparents, my co-workers and friends who encouraged me, who supported me, who never gave up on me. Most of them are indeed dead, so I can now only thank them by trying to  encourage others as they did to me. So today, I share with you Jon Sweeney’s new biography of Phyllis Tickle where he shares how Phyllis was a major encourager  for myself as well as so many others.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com

Nouwen: Discipline, Discipleship

Nouwen: Discipline, Discipleship

“Discipline is the other side of discipleship. Discipleship without discipline is like waiting to run in the marathon without ever practicing. Discipline without discipleship is like always practicing for the marathon but never participating...Discipline in the spiritual life is the concentrated effort to create the space and time where God can become our master and where we can respond freely to God's guidance.” Henri Nouwen, Henri Nouwen Society, Daily Meditation: Creating Space for God, February 27, 2018

favorite CS Lewis haunt at Oxford

I think Nouwen is telling us that God is asking us simply to spend time with God. For some, this is reading and studying the Bible and other sacred material, especially writings from others who describe spending time with God. With some, this is sitting in quiet and silence, not necessarily waiting for an answer from God but hoping to quiet down the board of trustees in our heads who are telling us about what we have done in the past, good and bad, and making loud outcries for our next journey and agenda for the future. It is difficult for our minds to live in the present moment.

C S Lewis and others write that God meets us in the present moment. For many, being outdoors in Nature connects us to God in the present moment.  Of course, all the multitude of spiritual disciplines, praying, fasting, serving, meditating, confessing, worshiping, are ways to put ourselves in a place where we are open to God’s presence in the present moment. There is not only one way. There are an immeasurable number of powerful spiritual tools that can move our minds and our bodies to a place where we are positioned to connect to the Christ within ourselves so that we can also connect with the Christ in our neighbor.

 We are called to share our experience with other spiritual friends as we learn every day new ways to stay connected and centered to our true selves, each other, and God.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com