How Does God Speak To Us?

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 chat.

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, and if I stop, I will lose my creativity or train of thought.

Interruptions remind us of our powerlessness. 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.

Joanna  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

How Does God Change Us

 Esther Harding: Change

“We cannot change anyone else; we can change only ourselves, and then usually only when the elements that need 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.

seeing our own defects in others.

Esther Harding was a British American and was 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 wrote about reaching a point where we can give thanks for our difficulties during his final years. 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, tattered bathrobe that is both ugly and yet comfortable and familiar. 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 discover what blocks us from God’s love by first recognizing the barriers in others and realizing how unattractive 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/

Handing It Over

Handing it Over

“You anoint my head with oil;

 my cup overflows.

 Surely  goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

my whole life long.” Psalm 23: 5b-6. NRSV

Recently, I was at a meeting where I was asked to lead a healing service. Usually, I can do almost all the parts and readings in the service, but I have been having difficulty with my voice after a long illness with deep coughing and hoarseness that damaged my vocal cords.

I am in speech therapy. My voice is improving, but it’s still not as strong as I’d like it to be. I knew I had to ask others to help. In the end, the only part I participated in was the short homily, and I assisted with the laying on of hands and anointing. There were two other deacons and a priest present, and I asked them to help with the anointing.

 The service was beautiful, particularly as we heard many other voices. After the service, the two deacons and the priest approached me and told me they could not express how meaningful it was to do the anointing. One was almost in tears. I was moved by how passionately each person spoke about how being involved in this sacramental rite of laying on hands and unction brought healing to them, as well as to those they prayed for.

Suddenly, I knew I was now being called to do what deacons are supposed to do, to hand over other ministries to others. This is a significant part of the deacon’s ministry. We help others be involved in a ministry, and then hand it over to them.

I am not giving up my call, but I am sharing it with others now. It is more than just delegating. It sacramentally invites others to participate in a ministry to which they are now called. This can be true in outreach and parish life ministries. In fact, it is a principal part of every aspect of ministry. We encourage, mentor, and lead others to become the person God created them to be.

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