God Callings and Meetings

God Callings

The many things we have to do, the hundred and one calls on our time and attention, don't get between ourselves and God. On the contrary they are to us in very truth his Body and his Blood.  

—H. A. Williams in The Joy of God. Synthesis Quote of the Day, August 10, 2018.www.synthesispub.com

Well, this is a novel idea! We anticipate during the day the quiet time that we will have writing or walking or at centering prayer, but the interactions we have with people during the day and our work are just as much a part of our relationship with God!

 The God within us is meeting with the God in our neighbor or the patients we work with or our co-workers or our partners or the children we teach or our fellow students. This is like turning on a switch in our brain. Our life is not divided into parts. Every part of our being is an offering. Every second, every hour is an opportunity to share the love we have been so freely given. We should tape Williams quote to the back of our cell phones to remind us when we get that last-minute phone call just as we are leaving our office.

My experience actually has been that they have been some of the most important calls I have had. It could be a novel idea to imagine that it is God calling.

This is a blending of the doing and the being aspects of our lives, our Martha and the Mary parts. Perhaps at times, we are called to be more being and at other times more doing. I think Williams is asking us to consider both of these as offerings to God.

I wonder if Jesus’ story of his visit to Mary and Martha would have been different if Martha had believed her doing was just as important, but not more important than Mary’s being?  

Joanna  joannaseibert.com

Storm warnings

Storm warnings

“Jesus also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising to the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain;’ and so it happens. ..You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?  And why do you not judge for yourself what is right?’” Luke 12:54-57

I sit and watch a storm come up the beach in the early morning. The sun is out and there are blue skies to the east, but to the west the sky is grayer. Clouds begin to move overhead. Sometimes this dark overhead carpet seems so close I think I can touch it. Fishing boats come back into port to weather the coming storm. Birds begin to take shelter. The great blue heron moves inland. The pelicans are nowhere to be seen. The mighty osprey is the last to give up looking for one more meal before she moves back to her nest. A violent wind precedes and announces the main event, the driving rain which is almost horizontal.

Jesus reminds us that we see signs in our own life that storms may be coming.  Our children act out or their grades at school begin to drop. We get little hints that a project is not going well, but we are too busy to take care of that matter right now. Later. Too many other things going on. We remember how a certain food affected us in the past, but we eat it anyway.  Our clothes no longer fit but we do not change our eating and exercise habits or lifestyle. We ignore a pain that is a sign that some body part needs attention.

The same is true in our spiritual life. Our prayer life seems dry. We cannot remember our dreams. We can no longer write. All we read seems dull and uninteresting. We think of every excuse not to be at corporate worship. We stop going outdoors. It is too hot. Too cold. Too sunny. Too cloudy. We stop talking with friends. We isolate. 

In medicine, a sign is an outward or objective appearance that suggests what is going on like the red butterfly rash across the nose of Lupus erythematosus. A symptom describes something subjectively experienced by an individual such as the fatigue of Lupus or pain with a urinary tract infection which requires some interpretation.

We constantly are given signs and symptoms from both our outer and inner life to direct us. God never abandons us. We only are called to keep ourselves in tune to see and hear. Spiritual directors, spiritual friends, spiritual practices all are gifts to help us along this journey know we are not alone and that a directional move or change in course may be needed in our outer or inner life.

My own experience, however, is that I am so much like that osprey, waiting until the very last minute before surrendering to something greater than myself.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com

Turning it over

Turning it over

“I abandon all that I think I am, all that I hope to be, all that I believe I possess. I let go of the past, I withdraw my grasping hand from the future, and in the great silence of this moment, I alertly rest my soul.”   -Howard Thurman, Deep Is the Hunger, Inwardoutward.org, Daily Quote August 7, 2018. Church of the Saviour

bernard hermant  unsplash

The first line, “I abandon all that I think I am,” reminds me of the liturgy in the celebration of a marriage when the couple exchange rings. “N, I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you, in the Name of God.”  (Book of Common Prayer, p. 317). Of course, Thurman goes even deeper than the vow at the exchange of rings. This prayer now turns over to God all that we think we are, all that we might hope to be, all that we think we possess, our past, and the future. The result, in the silence of the moment, is that we mindfully rest into our soul, the God within us, and find that peace that words cannot describe.

This is freedom. No longer in charge. Doing the next right thing but not worrying about the results. Trying to be the person God created us to be, not the person others may be calling us to be.  Discerning and then doing what we think we are uniquely called to do. Hoping to find direction through spiritual practices and inner work and living in community. Listening. Listening to other people’s story. At the right time, telling our story.  Learning how to forgive and to be forgiven. Being always grateful. Becoming a servant leader.

This is the life of surrender.

Joanna   joannaseibert.com