Our Twilight Zone

“There is a twilight zone in our own hearts that we ourselves cannot see. Other people, especially those who love us, can often see our twilight zones better than we ourselves can. The way we are seen and understood by others is different from the way we see and understand ourselves.” —Henri Nouwen in Bread for the Journey (HarperSanFrancisco, 1997).

I do believe it is not a coincidence that certain people come into our lives. I remember Catherine Marshall talking about praying for patience; and soon afterwards she happened to hire the slowest housekeeper. I learned about homosexuality from so many gay friends, especially Richard and Terry and Joe, as I walked beside them through their struggles. I became aware of the depth, love, and concern for others present in those of the Muslim faith among my radiology residents and partners, especially Sadaf and her family.

These are all people I already loved. Today I am getting just a little hint that I also have much to learn from the “difficult” people who come onto my path. Over and over I know I am being taught by them about forgiveness; for I know if I cannot forgive the harm they have brought to my life, I continue to let them hurt me. Slowly I also am admitting my part: my character defects, my sins, my hubris, my self-centeredness that contributed to the difficult situation.

As I meet with friends for spiritual direction, we often discuss what lessons we believe God is teaching us in our contact with each person with whom our lives intersect—whether it be a joyful or difficult experience. Again, this is how we gain the courage to deal with that twilight zone in ourselves and in others that Nouwen describes.

The sacred place where God heals us is in our solidarity—especially as we enlarge our community and take down fences and walls.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Release party!!!!!!!!!!!

Come and get a signed copy of the new book

Just in time for the holidays

A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany

The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter

Both are $18

All Money from sale of the books goes either to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast

Seibert’s, 27 River Ridge Road, Little Rock, Arkansas 72227

10 to noon, THIS Saturday September 14, 2019

RSVP joannaseibert@me.com

Buechner, Tillich: Ocean

“They say that whenever the theologian Paul Tillich went to the beach, he would pile up a mound of sand and sit on it gazing out at the ocean with tears running down his cheeks. . Maybe what made him weep was how vast and overwhelming it was and yet at the same time as near as the breath of it in his nostrils, as salty as his own tears.” —Frederick Buechner in Beyond Words (HarperOne, 2009).

I share Tillich’s awe every time I go to the ocean or the Gulf. It is indeed an experience of both vastness and closeness with Nature and with some Power greater than ourselves. Today I also think about how destructive the sea can be, as I say prayers for friends on the North Carolina coast who have been devastated by Hurricane Florence. I remember well the vast destruction along the Gulf of Mexico after hurricanes Frederick, Ivan, a Katrina, and Michael..

I also think of the pleasure that the sea and the sand have brought to generations. The sound of the waves calms my soul. Watching children swim and play in the sand pulls at the heartstrings of the child within me. Watching families, lovers, children walk the surf is a lesson in our connectedness to each other. The dolphins, the pelicans, the lone osprey are a constant reminder of the varieties of coexistent life with agendas that differ from our own. The “turtle people” who walk the beach in the early morning looking for turtle tracks to secret nests are, to me, icons of faithfulness and caring about something other than the self.

I see the ocean, the sea, the Gulf, the sand as icons of something created out of love, no matter what the process was. Living by the sea is like being in a loving relationship with spouse, friend, children. Whenever we take the chance of offering ourselves, our love, to another, it can be beautiful beyond words, like the sea.

At the same time, living on the Gulf, we are open to storms—sometimes as ugly and powerful as this hurricane. But like the people I observe by the sea, we remember that the positive potential of love many times overwhelms the possible hurtful negative. The lows are pale in comparison to the highs. We keep on picking up the mess and forgive the wind and the sea and those we love, and hope they can likewise forgive us for the harm we have knowingly or unknowingly done to them.

Joanna. Joannaseibert.com

Release party!!!!!!!!!!!

Come and get a signed copy of the new book

Just in time for the holidays

A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany

The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter

Both are $18

All Money from sale of the books goes either to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast

Seibert’s, 27 River Ridge Road, Little Rock, Arkansas 72227

10 to noon, Saturday September 14, 2019

RSVP joannaseibert@me.com

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 (Templegate, 1992).

Well, this is a novel idea! We anticipate during the day the quiet time that we will have writing or walking or practicing Centering Prayer; but the interactions we have with people during the day and at 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 this Williams quote to the back of our cell phones to read whenever we get that last-minute phone call just as we are leaving our office.

My experience actually has been that such calls turn out to be some of the most important ones we get. It could be a novel idea to imagine each time that it is God calling.

Such awareness is a blending of the doing and the being aspects of our lives, our Martha and Mary parts. Perhaps at times we are called into a state of being; and at other times we’re led to concentrate on doing. I think Williams is asking us to consider both of these states 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

Release party!!!!!!!!!!!

Come and get a signed copy of the new book

Just in time for the holidays

A Spiritual Rx for Advent Christmas, and Epiphany

The Sequel to A Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter

Both are $18

All Money from sale of the books goes either to Camp Mitchel Camp and Conference Center in Arkansas or Hurricane Relief in the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast

Seibert’s, 27 River Ridge Road, Little Rock, Arkansas 72227

10 to noon, this Saturday September 14, 2019

RSVP joannaseibert@me.com