Life's Plans

Life’s Plans

“If you want to make God laugh, tell God about your plans.” Woody Allen

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Recently I overheard a conversation with two friends talking about whether one of them could attend a special event at the church. The one who had not gone mentioned that she was looking forward to when she had her life in order and all her ducks in a row so that she could attend such special programs. I smiled and knew exactly where she was. I had been in that situation and at times am still there.

Unfortunately, my experience is that we may never start to get our life ordered and decide what is important and what is not important until some life changing event occurs. Sometimes it is a child acting out or having failing grades. More often it is an illness, sometimes serious, but often not as serious, giving us an early wakeup call. We often re-evaluate what is important after the death of a friend or a friend’s friend or a family member. Sometimes our dreams become repetitive and stranger until we finally decide to remember and work them or talk with someone about them. Losing our job or changing our work is always life changing.

So, how do we discern what is God calling us to do, what is important in our life? Having a rule of life is helpful that can bring some order to our lives and keeping us connected to God. Relying on spiritual disciplines such as all the forms of prayer keep us in relationship to God. Practicing a review of our day each night can eventually give us knowledge of how our day has been spent and what was important. Practicing gratitude for the many small and big parts of our day can give us amazing insight into where we find joy and peace.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

What Matters Most

What Matters Most

“The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are moments when we touch one another, when we are there in the most attentive or caring way.” Jack Kornfield, A Path With Heart, inwardoutward.org, August 4, 2016.

We returned from an almost sixty-year high school reunion. There were thirty-three in my graduating class. We thought we could make the trip this year but weren’t sure about the next, so decided to go now. We had lunch with friends I knew growing up in a small town in tidewater Virginia. Some might have called it a one-horse town since we only had one stop light. We would talk about driving up to “the light.” I am so glad we went. I talked with one of my friends who now lives in a county in Virginia that boasts it has no stop lights!

It was as if it had only been a few days since we saw each other instead of fifty-eight years. Why is it so easy to re-connect to those we grew up with? They knew us before we had no or very few masks. There is no need to wear a mask with them. They know who we are and where we came from. We are all back on a equal playing field. Most of the women in my class went off to college. Many of the boys stayed in our small town, worked at the mill, and took early retirement. All seemed to enjoy life. Most seemed genuinely interested in what others were doing instead of talking about themselves. All had had some tragedy and all had had some magical moments.

When we returned my oldest granddaughter sent us pictures of her senior prom. I see pictures of her friends and can in some small way remember how important these relationships are to her. I wonder what her fifty-eighth high school reunion will be like.

I will keep this day and this visit in the memory book of my mind and hope to revisit it again, giving thanks for where I grew up and the many friends who influenced me and taught me about caring for each other.

Joanna joannaseibert.

Charleston: heart strings

Steven Charleston: Heart String

“Here is something to do for the little kids in your life. When you are saying goodbye, make a special moment of showing them that you are tying something to their wrist. Tell them it is a heart string. You can't see it, but if you close your eyes you will know it is there. It will stay on their wrist wherever they go so your love will always be with them. And not to worry, it is magic string, so it will never get tangled, never knock anything over, and never break. It will just keep you connected in your hearts so your love for one another will always be there.” Bishop Steven Charleston, Facebook September 14, 2018

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Two of our recent Sunday scripture readings have been about little children and entering the kingdom of God. This Sunday Jesus tells us in Mark (10:2-26) that we must enter the kingdom by receiving it like little children.

Bishop Charleston’s heart string message to children not only reminds us how we stay connected to those we love but how God stays connected to us. The God string is always there even if we cannot feel it. Sometimes it feels like a thick rope and sometimes like the thinnest of sewing threads. Sometimes we feel so close we might reach out and touch the Holy One, and sometimes our God seems nowhere to be found.

Almost always we can feel that God connection when we go outside and realize there is something, some powers much greater than we can imagine. We may still not believe that this power believes in or cares about us until a call, a visit, a note comes from someone else who brings God’s love to us. Sometimes that person tells us he or she is praying for us, and we indeed feel those prayers.

Then we in time again feel God’s love and can only respond by returning that love to another as it was given to us.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com