Nouwen: Time Travel

Nouwen: Time Travel

“Travelling is exciting and exhilarating. But when we have no home to return to where someone will ask us, "How was your trip?" we might be less eager to go. Travelling is joyful when we travel with the eyes and ears of those who love us, who want to see our slides and hear our stories. This is what life is about. It is being sent on a trip by a loving God, who is waiting at home for our return and is eager to watch the slides we took and hear about the friends we made.” Henri Nouwen, Henry Nouwen Society, Daily Email Meditation from Bread for the Journey, © 1997 HarperSanFrancisco

Travelling in Williamsburg

Nouwen gives this amazing image of our life and death and eternal life, traveling, seeing new sites, new stories, new people, and finally returning to God to tell God all about what we have seen, being sent out and then returning to Jesus like the “seventy-two” in Luke’s gospel. I also can imagine that the God of my understanding would sit with each of us for hours, for days, for centuries, listening to our stories of what we have seen on our travels away from the “home” where God is.

I remember today so many friends who have died who were especially major travelers. I can image them right there now sitting close to God still talking about their travels as God excitedly listens. I think God wants to see all our slides, our home movies, all the pictures on our iPhone.  

When we talk to people about prayer, many say, “What do I say? I don’t know where to start.”  Nouwen gives us this great “ice breaker” for talking to God not only at the end of this life, but at the end of each day, suggesting that we tell God what we have been doing all day, as we would tell a family member or friend about a recent journey.

“Well today I  went out and met the most amazing people and I didn’t get anywhere near to the end of my ‘to do’ list because I spent time with them. What do you think, God? Was that what you were calling me to do today?”

Joanna  joannaseibert.com

Charleston: More non-anxious

Charleston: More non-anxious

“Let's do something surprising. In the midst of anxiety, let us be unafraid. In the time of anger, let us be peaceful. In the heart of turmoil, let us be a steady center. How easy it is to run with the crowd, driven by sound-bytes and rumors, racing to catch the news, chasing hope as if it were running to hide. Let us do something different. Let us be the rallying point for faith, the constant and consistent presence of a love that embodies justice, the quiet truth that knits lives together.” Steven Charleston Daily Facebook Message

My heart aches. I awaken with frequent thoughts about how we can help support and bring refugee families to this country. I see a posting on Facebook from a friend also wondering what we can do. Then I read Charleston’s call to be unafraid and be the steady center, what Gibran tells parents, to be, to remain the steady bow to their children, what family systems tells us to do in a situation, to remain the least anxious presence. I am calm.

Then I remember the news when our borders were closed to immigrants from Syria indefinitely, when people from seven predominately Muslim countries linked to concerns about terrorism were bared entry into our country for 90 days. Refugees on their way to our country were held up at airports. A Syrian teenager was detained at the airport in Little Rock Arkansas!  

This is not my country. I keep remembering that we are a country of refugees except for the native Americans. My daughter-in-law’s father grew up in Syria. If he had not come to this country, we would not have the beautiful family we now have.

 How do I remain a non-anxious presence when I see so many families being harmed, especially the dreamers who registered to be safe and now are at risk for deportation? It is so easy for fear and anxiety to take over. I know there are people who feel differently about this than I, but  my core beliefs are to try to care for those in need, especially strangers, just as I was cared for.

Right now, I know I can write about it, be present to those I personally know who may be in danger, and help to educate myself and others about the issues.

Perhaps I can pray about it. Yes, that is what I would tell others, to pray about it, meditate on it and hope the answer will come.

We are called to on the alert for a just solution that is not made in anger, that will help, not harm.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com

Estes: the Creative Life

 Estes: The Creative Life

“Some say the creative life is in ideas, some say it is in doing. It seems in most instances to be in simply being. It is not virtuosity, although that is very fine in itself. It is the love of something, having so much love for something—whether a person, a word, an image, an idea, the land or humanity—that all that can be done with the overflow is to create. It is not a matter of wanting to, not a singular act of will; one solely must.”

Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With the Wolves, inwardoutward, Daily Words, October 12, 2016.

Suzanne and Laura

In the past two weeks my husband and I have been on a motor trip of over 2500 miles back to towns and farms where I grew up reconnecting to my cousins as well as old childhood friends. I have been reunited with women who loved me no matter what I did.  I have been with friends and family like Liz, Kelly, Janie, Debbie, Laura, Jean, Christine, Betty, Anne, Wanda, and Suzanne who encouraged me to be the person God created me to be, and they still do.

Traveling by car is conducive to long periods of silence and introversion and thinking of people especially women who made an impact on my life. I grew up in a small coastal town in Virginia. There were thirty-three in my high school graduating class. I went to college in North Carolina and eventually decided to study to become a medical technologist. Then the summer before my senior year, I worked in that field and realized I thought I might have the training and education to become a physician as well. In my college graduating class of a thousand women there were only two others who were going to medical school. No women in my family had become doctor. The only female physician I knew was Dr. Shirley Olsson in my small hometown.

I now realize that Dr. Olsson is someone I most admired and unconsciously wanted to become the authentic caring woman and physician she embodied.  She modelled in her everyday living how it is possible for a woman to be a good doctor and still have a family and a fruitful life. By chance I would often run into her at the post office when I was home from medical school.  I believe she is still alive now in her nineties. I did not see her on this visit but will try to make contact soon. I am sure she has no idea how she influenced my life just as I had no idea how she unconsciously formed and shaped decisions in my life. 

What I have learned on this trip is to try to be a little more aware of how I can support others to become the person God created them to be just as Dr. Shirley and Laura and Liz and so many others encouraged, sustained, and stood by me.

Joanna joannaseibert.com