The Day after July 4th

 The Day after July 4, 2018

“America! America! God mend thine every flaw,

confirm thy soul in self-control, thy liberty in law.”

Katherine Lee Bates

The Sunday before the fourth of July we had a patriotic hymn sing along after church. One of my favorites is the music to Katherine Lee Bates poem, “America the Beautiful.” “O beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain.” Bates wrote the hymn after she arrived in a prairie wagon on top of the 14,000-foot Pike’s Peak near Colorado Springs in the summer of 1893.

 I became connected to the poem and the hymn when I helped plan a pediatric radiology meeting at nearby Colorado Springs in 1994. I took a sabbatical from Children’s Hospital for six months in order to plan the international pediatric radiology meeting. I had much help from people all over the world, but I also had a touch of what Parker Palmer calls “functional atheism,” believing I was the “only” one who needed to get most of the work done.

After a year of planning and everything was ready, I vividly remember sitting in a board meeting in May at the event hotel just before the conference was about to begin. I looked out of the adjacent large bay window, and saw to my horror, the beginning of the last snow of winter, in May! I had planned in detail a multitude of outdoor activities that now would never see the light of day. I now keep a beautiful picture of snow on the tulips in front of the hotel to remind me of how little in life I can control.

There were a multitude of other hiccups. We recorded speakers for a meeting video. One speaker did not like his recording and required us to redo his filming at least five times. I will always be indebted to Marilyn Goske whom I had casually asked to watch over the videoing of the speakers. She patiently stayed with the speakers and missed the whole meeting to get this done.  Another hiccup was our evening entertainment after dinner. We had scheduled the Air Force Academy Cadet Choir. Then without warning they were called to maneuvers. Our meeting planner booked a local children’s chorus. I was embarrassed that this would be amateurish and poorly performed. As you might expect, they were some of the most charming, talented and poised children performers I have ever seen. They ended their concert by going to individual members of the highly-educated, sophisticated audience and held their hands and sang directly to them. We all gave them a standing ovation through our tears, remembering that the children we serve as physicians can teach us so much about life as well as “American the Beautiful.”  

 I also learned from this meeting that no matter how hard I try, I am not in charge, that God provides amazing people around me who will take over situations that are overwhelming, and I especially learned after dinner that when a door unexpectedly closes, the next door that opens often is surprisingly magnificent.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

July 4th

4th of July Freedom

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

July 4th has been a major holiday in my life.

 When I was growing up in Virginia my grandfather and grandmother held a family reunion every July 4th on their farm on the Mattaponi River for my grandmother’s Smith relatives. Watermelon, homemade ice cream cooling in the cellar, fried chicken, potato salad, deviled eggs, five kinds of pies, chocolate pound cake. I was in charge of name tags.

We arrived in Little Rock on July 4, 1976 to start our careers in pediatric radiology and pediatric ENT with three small children. We made the St. Margaret’s July 4th service a family tradition where a political speaker is always the preacher, the bishop often is the celebrant, and Episcopal choirs from the Little Rock churches join together to lead us in patriotic hymns followed by a picnic on the grounds.  We have learned to be cheerleaders for the July 4th Firecracker 5 K race and later watch our children and grandchildren enter watermelon eating contests and dive for money in a swimming pool and stay up late to watch fireworks.

The 4th of July is about freedom, freedom to do all the things I have just described without fear, freedom to worship, freedom from fear because all the branches of our government are strong with capable and talented leaders who proclaim the ideals of freedom for our citizens of our country and the rest of the world. If something is not right, I have the freedom to speak out about issues.  This is at the top of my gratitude list tonight, freedom to speak out.

People who come for spiritual direction can’t help from bringing in political issues at some point. I try to remind them and myself to keep these issues in our prayers, but we are also called to speak out as articulately as we can when fear becomes the norm and masquerades as taking away these freedoms to prevent the fear of loss of freedoms. Our job is to do our part to remind others that the kingdom of God is not a kingdom of fear but of love. Our freedom does not depend on harming others but on loving others.

Joanna joannaseibert.com

Voice of Nature

Nature’s Voice

“Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked..

They are like trees planted by streams of water; which yield their fruit in its season, and their leave do not wither." Psalm 1: 1, 3.

We have been watching the rain come across the lake at Whitefish. As it reaches our shore on a gentle breeze the small leaves of the willows and aspen trees move back and forth producing a unique swishing sound. The vibrations caused by the wind and the rain on the fluttering leaves sounds like some message the trees, the wind, and the rain are trying to tell us. Is it a cry for help? Are these the sound of Nature’s tears? I don’t believe it is a thank you for how we have cared for our natural world.  

There is also a smell that comes with the sound of rain. It has been called earthy. It is thought to be the smell that comes as the earth is moved by the rain. Is it the fragrant perfume of the earth calling and enticing us to come and get to know it better and care for it?

Almost every person I talk to affirms their feeling of God’s presence when they are outside in the natural world. The trees, the sun, the moon, the rain, the flowers, the animals, the mountains, the sea, the earth are healers. They are mood changers, It is difficult not to be grateful looking across a peaceful lake in the cool mountain air and watching a mother duck care for and gather her eighteen ducklings as the rain has stopped. She makes a distinctive sound as well, maybe telling her ducklings that there is still danger when we are around 

We are called to care for our churches and places of worship where we experience God. We are called to care for our friends who teach us about the love of God.  We are likewise called to care for the natural world which also calls us back to the Creator God.

Joanna joannaseibert.com