Seeing Angels in Our Lives

 Seeing the Angels in Our Lives

Rarely do I 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.

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

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

ALL NIGHT, ALL DAY: life, death & angels was released on June 20, 2023, at a fantastic party at Novel Bookstore in Memphis, Tennessee. I was thrilled to meet and hear from the other authors.

About the Book

There is something mystical about holding a person’s hand, “crossing over.” It can be heartbreaking, of course, but also deeply holy and beautiful. Some pieces in this collection share the experience of personal loss after the death of a loved one. Often, the presence of an angel or another mystical experience is described. But not only in death–there are also stories of how 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 angels come to save a life or change a flat tire. Some appear to warn people, tell them what to do, and 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.

I will always hold dear the friends and authors who attended the June release of All Day, All Night at Novel Bookstore in Memphis, especially Susan Cushman, who planned it all.

Joanna. joannaseibert.com

a 

One Way God Speaks to Us: In The Interruptions in Our Lives

One Way God Speaks to Us: In The Interruptions In Our Lives

“While visiting the University of Notre Dame, I met with an older professor. As 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, a call from a friend or family member comes when I think I am too busy to talk. This is a sure sign that I am in trouble, losing sight of what life is all about, if I cannot stop and chat. Interruptions are like stop or yield signs 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 whispering 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, 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/

One Way God Changes Us, Seeing Ourselves in Others

 Esther Harding: One Way God Changes Us, Seeing Ourselves in Others

Seeing Ourselves in Others

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

Esther Harding was a British American and is 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 during my early days of seeking to connect with feminine spirituality.

President Jimmy Carter wrote about reaching a point where we can give thanks for our difficulties during his final years. That seems 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 way 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 reactions 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 to connect us with the God within us and with our neighbor. We discover what blocks us from God’s love by first recognizing the barriers in others and seeing 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, opening a crack of light into my own life.

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