My Grandfather, My Angel

“My Grandfather, My Angel”

It is rare that I still do not think about my grandfather at some point during the day. He taught me about unconditional love. No, my grandfather was unconditional love. In addition, I know he also saved my life on at least three occasions. . . .

The first time my grandfather saved my life was when we were swimming in the Mattaponi River next to his farm. He had taught me how to swim, and I know I was a good swimmer because I would later swim for hours along the shoreline. This near-miss tragedy occurred when I was early primary school age . . . I suddenly could not stay above water. I think it was high tide, and I had unconsciously gone out beyond the dock where the water was now over my head and panicked when I could not touch the bottom. My grandfather quickly rushed to my side and swam me to shore. I remembered much later how that best described to me the depth of his love.

Want to read about the other two times Joanna’s grandfather saved her life? You’ll have to get the book and read her essay, and the many other essays and poems (and one short story) inside!

ALL NIGHT, ALL DAY: life, death & angels

Releases June 20, 2023, 6 pm Novel Bookstore, Memphis, Tennessee

About the Book

There is something mystical about holding the hand of a person who is “crossing over.” It can be heartbreaking, of course, but also very holy and beautiful. Some pieces in this collection share the experience of personal loss when a loved one dies. Often the presence of an angel or another mystical experience is shared. But not only in death–there are also stories of the way the mystical world interacts with us in daily life. And not only angels, but also mothers, fathers, sisters, grandfathers, and friends.
All Night, All Day is an inspirational collection of personal essays, stories, and poems by outstanding women authors who write about the appearance of the divine in their lives. Some of these angels come to save a life or change a flat tire. Some appear to warn people, tell them what to do, suggest more vegetables and maybe better shoes.
Contributors: Cassandra King - Suzanne Henley - River Jordan - Sally Palmer Thomason - Natasha Trethewey - Sonja Livingston - Johnnie Bernhard - Frederica Mathewes-Green - Angela Jackson-Brown - Christa Allan - Renea Winchester - Jacqueline Allen Trimble - Mandy Haynes - Wendy Reed - Lisa Gornick - Jennifer Horne - Ann Fisher-Wirth - Averyell Kessler - Lauren Camp - Cathy Smith Bowers - Nancy Dorman-Hickson - Joanna Seibert - Susan Cushman - Claire Fullerton - Julie Cantrell.

Join us for the release of All Day, All Night at Novel Bookstore, Memphis, Tuesday June 20 at 6 pm.

Joanna

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Interruptions

Interruptions

“While visiting the University of Notre Dame, I met with an older professor, and while we strolled, he said with a certain melancholy, ‘You know, my whole life, I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I discovered that my interruptions were my work.’”—Henri Nouwen in Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life (Image Books, 1975), p. 52.

This has been my experience. I have an agenda, but I am slowly, often painfully, learning that God continually meets me in the interruptions in my life that are not on my schedule. For example, there is a call from a friend or family member when I think I am too busy to talk. This is a sure sign that I am in trouble, losing priorities of what life is all about if I cannot stop and talk. Interruptions are like a stop or yield sign to go off script and listen for a grace note. Nouwen calls them opportunities, especially opportunities for hospitality and novel experiences. I USUALLY HAVE FRESH IDEAS when I return to a project after an interruption. But that false idea keeps lurking and speaking in my ear that if I stop, I will lose my creativity or train of thought.

Interruptions remind us of how powerless we are. If we think we are in charge, the interruptions remind us that this is a myth. I BECOME EXPONENTIALLY ISOLATED when I seal myself off and refuse to respond to anything but what is on my schedule. My world, my God, has become too small. I become the center of the universe and fossilized. As a result, I develop a high hubris titer.

isolation

Esther Harding: Changing Ourselves

 Esther Harding: Changing Ourselves

“We cannot change anyone else; we can change only ourselves, and then usually only when the elements that are in need of reform have become conscious through their reflection in someone else.”—M. Esther Harding in The ‘I’ and the ‘Not-I’: A Study in the Development of Consciousness at InwardOutward.org.

Others mirror our behavior, and we learn from them.

Esther Harding was a British American considered the first significant Jungian Analyst to practice in this country. Her first book, The Way of All Women (1975), was one of the first books I read in my early days of seeking to connect to feminine spirituality.

President Jimmy Carter recently wrote about getting to where we can give thanks for our difficulties. That is almost impossible, but I can see his reasoning more clearly in Esther Harding’s writings. We wear our character defects and self-centeredness like an old bathrobe that is ugly and tattered, but comfortable and a known entity. Our habitual manner of life has become our familiar identity. We can only recognize these defects and behavior patterns in others, as they repulse us—and finally, identify them as our own. Our behavior and reaction to the world keep us from connecting to God.

I am continually amazed by how God uses everything to bring us back to God’s love and connect us to the God within us and our neighbor. We find out what is blocking us from God’s love by first seeing the barriers in someone else and realizing how unbeautiful they are.

At some point, when the time is right, I can share Harding’s insights with spiritual friends who are also suffering. I also have spiritual friends who listen to me when suffering brings awareness that opens up a crack of light into my own life.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/