Slow Down, Waiting

March 31, 2019 joanna seibert

Slow Down…Waiting

“When I am told that waiting seems to belong to the heart of the spiritual life, I’m not pleased, for I want answers, direction, clarity—and I want them pronto..” Robert Barron, "What Are You Waiting For,” U.S. Catholic, Dec 2003.

In this article, Barron starts out with that old joke about the pilot who announces that he has good news and bad news. The bad news is that they are totally lost. The good news is that they are making excellent time!

My experience is that spiritual friends initially come to talk because they are consciously or unconsciously in some kind of pain, and like the rest of us seek relief, answers, hopefully very soon. This is something to talk about early on about being aware that staying connected to God requires much waiting. “Those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31-1) This is a good verse that most people may know and can help all of us to remember when we find ourselves impatient. We will experience times when we will fly and walk and not be tired, but waiting is still a major part of the relationship. 12-step groups talk about not leaving before the miracle happens.

I have learned a few exercises from my life as a physician about waiting. I would often go to meetings or have patients or other doctors that would keep me waiting. I had those huge ego experiences of “I am very important. You should not keep me waiting. Don’t you know how valuable my time is?” When overcome with these thoughts, I end up mad, arrogant, testy when the person or group finally come. This is never helpful for the interaction. Gradually I learn, that when I find myself waiting, that this is an opportunity to pray for that person or group before we meet, or it is an opportunity to meditate, calm my soul before the meeting. Waiting becomes a gift from that person which makes all the difference in my relationship with those I am meeting with as well as my relationship with God. The same is true about waiting for God. Goodness knows, God spends a great deal of time waiting for us.

Of course, centering prayer, meditation, contemplation, lectio divina are also more exercises about waiting.

Spiritual writer, Michael Vinson, suggests a waiting exercise of remembering times in our lives when by some miracle we do wait and the miracle happens. Perhaps we wait talking to someone about a situation before we hear the whole story. Another spiritual writer, Jane Wolfe, responds to Michael in his blog that God will always give us a nudge when it is time to respond and act after we spend time waiting. Jane reminds us of Mary giving Jesus that nudge at the wedding at Cana when it was now time for him to do something!

“Sit and Wait,” Friday Food, jmichaelvinson.com, February 24, 2017

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Purchase a copy of A Daily Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter in Little Rock from me joannaseibert@me.com or from Wordsworth Books or from the publisher Earth Songs Press or on Amazon. Proceeds from the book go for hurricane relief in the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast.

Barbara Brown Taylor: Spiritual Practices, Movies, Short Stories

March 30, 2019 joanna seibert

Barbara Brown Taylor: Spiritual Practices, Movies, Short Stories

"Anything can become a spiritual practice once you are willing to approach it that way—once you let it bring you to your knees and show you what is real, including who you really are, who other people are, and how near God can be when you have lost your way." Barbara Brown Taylor, in An Altar in the World, (HarperOne 2010.)

I have been in groups that watched for the presence of God in movies, not necessarily religious movies. One of my favorites is Places in the Heart where Sally Fields as a recently widowed farmer’s wife in rural Texas during the depression takes in a blind boarder, John Malkovich, and with the help of an African American drifter, Danny Glover, raises and picks cotton to keep her farm. Stop here if you do not want to know more, but the movie ends with all of the characters living and dead, black and white, murdered victim and murderer, kind and unkind, faithful and unfaithful passing communion and love to each other at their local rural church.

I am in another group that reads contemporary short stories to find the voice of God. We have used a four-volume series, Listening for God, edited by an English professor from Yale University, Paula Carlson, and a professor of Religion, Peter Hawkins. One of my favorite stories is A Small Good Thing by Raymond Carver about a couple whose child dies and the baker who had made him a birthday cake. Spoiler alert! This story also ends with the three of them having a form of communion late at night at the baker’s shop.

We find communion, spiritual practices all around us in our daily life if we have eyes to see, hears to ear, when we can live in the present and reach out and see what is going on with our neighbor right in front of us.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Purchase a copy of A Daily Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter in Little Rock from me joannaseibert@me.com or from Wordsworth Books or from the publisher Earth Songs Press or on Amazon. Proceeds from the book go for hurricane relief in the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast.

First Soul Friend

March 29, 2019 joanna seibert

First Soul Friend

“So there is a movement from the soul to God, from God to the soul, and from the soul to society and the world.” Kenneth Leech

Kenneth Leech’s book, Soul Friend, an Invitation to Spiritual Direction, was the first book I read on spiritual direction over thirty years ago. Something was calling me to be more connected with other spiritual friends. I was going to a counselor who was helping me deal with life on life’s terms, but somehow, I instinctively knew I needed a friend whom I knew was caring for my soul, concentrating on helping me see the God of my understanding working in my life. I had learned in my medical practice the importance of sharing ideas and consulting with others. I learned from many mistakes that when I tried to make decisions without getting input from others, I so often went down the wrong path, made the wrong diagnosis.

How do you find someone you can trust with your soul? Spiritual directors were rare breeds at that time. It had to be someone I trusted with my fears and secrets. I knew I shared my life with my family members, but my direction or path to God always affected them directly or indirectly. I knew I needed to talk or be with someone who was not explicitly affected by the insights we might have.

After some time, I did find another friend in a book group. She as well was seeking a soul mate, a spiritual friend. We read together Leech’s book. I know Leech had so much to teach us, but this is the message we decided to concentrate on. We met once a week. We each told what was going on in our life, our secret worries, our concerns, our fears, where we thought God might be working in our life. We each talked without interruption or interpretation. There was no advice to the other or empathy or sympathy. We just listened. Then we prayed for each other, specifically for each other’s concerns.

I am sure Leech would have wanted us to do more, but that was a start for both of us. In essence we were connected to God by telling our secrets to someone else. In doing so these secrets lost their power over us and somehow, we entered the secret place inside of us where God was dwelling. It was a start. I learned a little about how the power of secrets and fears can seal us off from God. We no longer meet but we are still friends and still trust each other and give thanks for this time when our journeys brought us together and started both of us on a new journey. This kind of a friend is invaluable, a gift from God. If you are looking for one, keep it in your prayers, and let us know your experience with a treasured spiritual friend.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com