Precious Present

Precious Present

“God speaks to every individual through what happens to them moment by moment. The events of each moment are stamped with the will of God...we find all that is necessary in the present moment.”—Jean Pierre de Caussade in Abandonment to Divine Providence (1921).

gray seibert

We wrote about Spencer Johnson’s famous book about living in the present, The Precious Present (in A Daily Spiritual Rx for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany). C. S. Lewis also writes that God speaks to us in the present, not in the past or future. Many mindfulness exercises are about getting into and living in the present moment. Other spiritual practices, such as walking the labyrinth, using the rosary, waiting in silence, and walking meditations, also lead us to the present moment by quieting the committee in our heads.

In his book Sadhana, Anthony de Mello teaches us that living in our body and not living out of our head keeps us grounded. Our bodies keep us in the present moment by grounding us to the earth. Our mind is always in the future or the past. Spending time in nature connects us to the present. The trees photosynthesize and transform the energy within us to perceive beauty. Beauty grounds us in the present. Sports events help us live in the present moment. Playing with children keeps us in the present, for that is where children live. The child within us also lives and connects us to the precious present moment.

turner and zoe seibert

Spiritual Experiences

Spiritual Experience

“It may be possible to find explanations of spiritual experiences such as ours, but I have often tried to explain my own and have succeeded only in giving the story of it. I know the feeling it gave me and the results it has brought, but I realize I may never fully understand its deeper why and how.”—Bill Wilson in As Bill Sees It (Alcoholics Anonymous, 1967), p. 313.

Bill Wilson was not the only one to have a spiritual experience. I daily meet with people who gradually, reluctantly, and sometimes embarrassingly tell stories about their spiritual experiences. We are still under the influence of the Age of Enlightenment and Reason. We only know what we can explain.

We may fear sharing anything that comes from mystery.

For many people, these spiritual experiences occur outside in nature as we connect and are overwhelmed by observing the ocean, trees, and mountains. Suddenly, we feel arms holding us up by something greater than ourselves. We want to respond with gratitude by whatever means we know. We sense a presence beside us. Some have the experience in a house of worship. A flickering candle produces what looks like holy smoke. Some grow into awareness at the Eucharist. They leave the rail at peace with what is going on in their lives. Many people remember a religious experience at the birth of a child or seeing a newborn for the first time.

Birds often contribute to a transcendent experience. I remember the Sunday after the death of a dear friend, Jane Murray. I saw a wild goose fly by a window at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, where Jane and I worked together. I had never seen that before and haven’t seen it since. The wild goose is the Celtic symbol for the Holy Spirit. 

Candles often contribute to our enlightenment. I recently met with a friend for spiritual direction, who noticed the reflected light of the burning candle beside us through a window, and the reflection appeared to be burning on a tree outside our window. He spoke up, “I see a burning bush!”

These are all times when we are aware of “burning bush” experiences, and we should take our shoes off and say thank you when we encounter them.

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

     

 

 

Humor

Humor

“Laughter is carbonated holiness.”—Anne Lamott.

too much fun

Anne Lamott is a brilliant writer who helps us look for the humor in the truth.

Without question, the God of our understanding has a sense of humor. Therefore, our spiritual life or relationship with God should reflect that humor. Some things that happen to us can only be explained by acknowledging that our God undoubtedly has a sense of humor! For example, this is the God who keeps bringing annoying people into my life–until I realize that what bothers me about them is something unrecognized in myself. I recognize this as one of God’s little “jokes.”

Sometimes, there are situations that can only be tolerated by our having a sense of humor. There was a boy in our medical school class, Mike Levinson, whose frequent quote was, “You’ve got to laugh, or you will cry!” Some challenges then were so formidable that we had to find some lightness in them. When we can acknowledge humor and even absurdity in life, the Spirit is working in us to comfort us. If the joke is at someone else’s expense, making fun of another—it is not from God. I see God in situations where I can see the humor in some of my own character defects, my sins. “Goodness, gracious, God, I just did it again!”

I learned about humor and character defects from 12-step groups. It is not “gallows humor” when something deadly serious is made fun of in a silly or seemingly disrespectful way. There is a fine line.

My mother did her best in her lifetime, but I did not appreciate her. I can now remember that whenever I would call her, I would expect her to be different, instead of contemplating how I might change my way of relating to her. As I now look back on this, rather than beating myself up, I see how humorous it is to “do the same thing over and over the same way and expect a different result.” It is so accurate. It is amusing. It is also insanity!

When I become too serious or am with a friend who looks at life too somberly, my experience is that our playing is the antidote for both of us. It might be playing with our children or grandchildren, or being with friends who know better than we do how to lighten up and “let go.”

Joanna  https://www.joannaseibert.com/