The Last Leaf

Lessons From The Last Leaf

“Everyone whom I allow to touch me in my weakness and help me to be faithful to my journey to God’s home will come to realize that he or she has a gift to offer that may have remained hidden for a very long time. To receive help, support, guidance, affection, and care may well be a greater call than that of giving all these things because in receiving I reveal the gift to the givers, and a new life together can begin.”—Henri Nouwen in You are the Beloved (Convergent Books 2017).

 A single autumn leaf has been clinging to the wood frame of my office window for weeks. It is the first and last thing I look for as my day begins and ends. It reminds me of one of my favorite O. Henry short stories, “The Last Leaf.”

A young artist in New York’s Greenwich Village at the turn of the last century loses her will to live and succumbs to pneumonia. She watches from her window as the cold winter wind blows leaves from a tree branch growing along the side of a nearby adjacent building. She decides when the last leaf falls, she will die.

She eventually watches the last leaf miraculously remain on the tree until she regains her will to live. Later, she discovers that an older artist in her building, whose own realistic paintings rarely sell, hears her story. He spends a night in the cold and icy rain while she sleeps, painting a leaf on the wall of the building. Shortly after he paints “his masterpiece” to save her life, he also dies from the pneumonia epidemic.

Of course, the story is one of sacrifice and love for another human, reminiscent of the story of the good Samaritan. It is also a story of hope. How do we offer people the hope that they will not remain in despair? There is a promise of Easter after every Good Friday experience.

But that promise of light in the darkness can be difficult without the help of others. The darkness forgets what light is like. We see and read about this hope from others. The story of old Simeon and Anna at the temple in Jerusalem at Jesus’ presentation reminds us of the promise that the Christ Child will always come to us as we wait.  

I also see this story about the use of our gifts and talents. We may think our abilities are minor compared to others, maybe even worthless. But there will be a time when what we offer is precisely what someone else needs. We will be called to use our talent at the right time when others may not be there to help.

Advent is a time to watch, wait, and pray that we will be open to offering what we consider as our “insignificant masterwork” that will make a difference in the life of another.

Joanna. joannaseibert.com

 

 

God Coming

God Coming

 “When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately, he spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.’

Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they do not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” Mark 6:47-52.

         This has been my experience. God often comes to us in the early morning if we take time to get up and listen and read or just look or sit outside. God comes when he sees us “straining at the oars against an adverse wind.” God comes in some miracle, almost as if he were walking on water. It may be a word, a letter, an email, or a call from someone I would least expect to hear God’s word.

“By chance,” we meet someone not on our agenda for the day. God may speak in the actual scripture reading. God may be the wind at our side, the sun bringing light to the chilly dawn, or the first bloom on a barren tree. We may perceive God as a ghost and not recognize the occurrence as a message from the one who cares so much for us. We may ignore it because it is not part of our busy plan for the day. We may even cry out. We may be terrified by what we hear or see.

Talking to spiritual friends helps us see God in these places we were blind to God’s presence. Somehow, if we stay present in the moment and say our prayers, fear will leave us. Fear is afraid of prayer.

God literally gets into the boat where our life is sailing on, and the storm in our mind and our body ceases. We may be astonished. We do not realize why we are comforted, for our heart is still hardened. This happens daily. God does not give up on us and our hard hearts.

This is the message of Advent and Christmas and Epiphany.

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

Mary and Elizabeth: Spiritual Friends

Mary and Elizabeth: Spiritual Friends

"When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.'

And Mary said, 'My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.'" — Luke 1: 41-42, 46-47.

This visit of Mary to Elizabeth in Luke is one of our most descriptive scripture passages about what it is like to be and have a spiritual friend or soul mate, seeking connection to Christ through each other. The response by our neighbor may sometimes be just as miraculous as joyfully singing of the Magnificat!

The story in Luke tells us that seeing Christ in our neighbor is a gift of the Holy Spirit. We are to put ourselves in position to receive this gift of the Holy Spirit, realize Christ in our neighbor, and honor Christ in our neighbor. The Spirit enables us to look, listen for, and celebrate the Christ in those we visit. The story of Mary and Elizabeth promises that when we see and reflect Christ in our neighbors back to them, they may also envision Christ in themselves and be enabled to live out, and even sometimes sing out, the Magnificat. 

What does it mean to sing out the Magnificat?

         "My soul magnifies the Lord,

         and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

         for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant."

The words are clear. It is living out a life of gratitude and praise, and being open to God working in our lives, even in times of great stress when we have no idea what will happen next. Our role model is an unmarried, pregnant teenage girl empowered by her older relative's love to eloquently express her faith in her God. The fruit of the Spirit that springs forth when we see Christ in each other is gratitude and praise. This is our sign that we are indeed connected to the Holy Spirit.

         What a difference we could make in our own lives and our neighbor's if we could each be an Elizabeth to the Marys we visit daily at home and work. Then, when we see Christ in our neighbor, our true self, and our God connection within us, we will also "leap for joy!"  

 Modified from Seibert, The Living Church, May 25, 2003.