A Boat called Surrender

 Surrender

“The boat I travel in is called Surrender. My two oars are instant forgiveness and gratitude—complete gratitude for the gift of life. I am thankful for the experience of this life, for the opportunity to dance. I get angry, I get mad, but as soon as I remind myself to put my oars in the water, I forgive.”

Balbir Matbur,  Heron Dance interview (Issue 11)

Trees for Life

Balbir Matbur as president of Trees for Life for 30 years planted 200 million morning trees in developing companies. I thank the daily words from Inward Outward from the Church of the Saviour in Washington for introducing him to me. Matbur’s exceptional life is a story of constant surrender:  immigrating to Wichita from India with no family contacts, mowing lawns, becoming world known in business, developing a mysterious illness, leaving his business career, and starting an international nonprofit to plant trees in developing countries. The morning trees survive in dry conditions, its leaves are nutritious in vitamins A and C and calcium, and its seeds are used to purify water.

Matbur’s words are indeed words of peace that I hear in so many disciplines across all religious barriers. When I can forgive, when I am filled with gratitude, I stay out of trouble and find peace. What an image. We are in a boat called surrender and our two oars are gratitude and forgiveness that keep that boat moving on course. I can imagine rowing on a river, not too big of a river and not too big of a boat. I will need some other passengers with me who can take over the oars when I become too tired, who will read to me and let me rest or just allow me to soak in the scenery. 

Rick Plumee, The Wichita Eagle, May 10, 2014.

Joanna            joannaseibert.com

Unlearning and climbing down ladders

Unlearning and climbing down ladders

When C. G. Jung was an old man, one of his students read John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and he asked Jung, “What has your pilgrimage really been?” Jung answered: “In my case Pilgrim’s Progress consisted in my having to climb down a thousand ladders until I could reach out my hand to the little clod of earth that I am.”

 C. G. Jung Letters, Volume 1, selected and edited by Gerhard Adler in collaboration with Aniela Jaffe (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972), footnote 8, p. 19.

Richard Rohr describes this unlearning and climbing down as “The way down is the way up.” We do spend our lives learning and unlearning, climbing up and climbing down. Thomas Merton said, “ People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, when they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong building.”

When three spiritual leaders share this secret, I listen. My experience is that people who try to stay at the top of the ladder soon are run over by younger and smarter people in their profession. This is a frequent reason many people come for spiritual direction. They realize the old life no longer has the answers. Their soul cries out to be heard. The climb down can be gentle with the help of our friends who care for us because they love us not because of what we have accomplished. They see the face of Christ in us and try to describe it to us. We meet some facinating people on the way down whom we never would have paid attention to before. The outer life becomes less important. The inner life speaks more clearly and is heard.  The descent is an ascent.

Joanna      joannaseibert.com

Richard Rohr, Simplicity: The Freedom of Letting Go, The Crossroad Publishing Company: 2003, 168-169, 172-173.

Morning Wake Up Call

 Morning wake up

Canticle G: A Song of Ezekiel
Ezekiel 36:24-28

I will take you from among all nations; *
and gather you from all lands to bring you home.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you; *
and purify you from false gods and uncleanness.
A new heart I will give you *
and a new spirit put within you.
I will take the stone heart from your chest *
and give you a heart of flesh.
I will help you walk in my laws *
and cherish my commandments and do them.
You shall be my people, *
and I will be your God.

Enriching our Worship I, Supplemental Liturgical Materials prepared by The Standing Liturgical Commission, Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, 1997, p 34.

 When people ask how to start their day, this is one suggestion that keeps coming to mind, especially if the person starts her day with a daily bath or shower. A priest I knew in my diaconal training shared that he sings this canticle each morning in his shower. This is an image that has stayed with me for many years. I am not good at memorizing scripture, but for those who are, I cannot think of a better way to start the day. Even if I cannot memorize the scripture, perhaps I can remember some of the lines. I am asking God to sprinkle clean water on me, to purify me from false gods. My favorite false gods are fame, recognition, and work, busyness. I am asking God for a new heart, a new way to love, especially to love those who seem unlovable, different, those who seem to punch all my egocentric buttons that become harder and harder to hide, and those I perceive have harmed me. I pray for a new spirit, the Holy Spirit, God’s will, not my own will, to live inside of me and to lead me. I am well acquainted with and do not like the stone heart that quietly and subtly sneaks into me and judges others and myself. Take that hard stone heart out of my chest. It is a too heavy and painful burden to carry. I pray for a heart that accepts my humanness and the humanness of others. I will try to follow the guidelines I think God has given me.  Help me not to believe in my hubris that I am better than others and above the laws you have asked us to follow. I want to stay connected today to you, God, even if it is a thin thread.  Perhaps I can remember clean water, no false gods today, a new heart, a new spirit, no stone heart, no hubris, staying connected for just one more day.

Joanna                       joannaseibert.com