Author Archives: watchwordsblog

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love. Washington Irving Meditation: Often the Western culture mistakes tears for weakness. As a chaplain I often heardContinue reading “The Sacredness Of Tears”

It is our best work that God wants, not the dregs of our exhaustion. I think he must prefer quality to quantity. George MacDonald Meditation: It is so tempting to “keep going”. Sometimes the demands of life are so multilayered, and we have so many different roles to play, that it is hard to knowContinue reading “Less Is More”

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.  Joseph Campbell Meditation: It takes courage to find one’s own way. It is easier to follow the crowd or to do what is expected. If we follow our bliss, we follow our heart. We follow that which calls us byContinue reading “Follow Your Bliss…”

Jesus himself did not try to convert the two thieves on the cross; he waited until one of them turned to him. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Meditation: When Christians misunderstand the New Testament as “a marching order to convert everybody they meet to Christ”, this behavior often feels to those pursued as manipulative, boundary violating and obsessive.Continue reading “Jesus Waited…”

Nothing that we despise in other men (women) is inherently absent from ourselves. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or don’t do, and more in light of what they suffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Meditation: When I experience and don’t like certain traits and behaviors in others, it isContinue reading “New Clothes Of Compassion…”

Movements begin when oppressed people make – and keep remaking – a deeply inward decision to stop consenting to external demands that contradict a critical inner truth, the truth that they are worthy of respect. Parker Palmer Meditation: What if the messages from our family of origin or of society have conveyed to us thatContinue reading “Healing Means To Stop Consenting To Oppression…”

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. John Muir Meditation: I remember a difficult time in my life. My studies had worn me out. My body was tired. My Spirit was depleted and my soul was restless.Continue reading “Healing Of Body And Soul…”

But the real secret to lifelong good health is actually the opposite: Let your body take care of you. Deepak Chopra Meditation: The idea that “our body is taking care of us” is intriguing to me. We usually hear the sentence that “we are supposed to take care of our bodies”. I am also intriguedContinue reading “Let Your Body Take Care Of You…”

Right now I am trying to be in a place of calm, a place where I can chill out and then handle the chaos of life better. You don’t just get it overnight; you have to work at it. It’s a daily struggle. Jackee Harry Meditation: My life is very full with working a full-timeContinue reading “Places Of Calm…”

The symbolic language of the crucifixion is the death of the old paradigm; resurrection is a leap into a whole new way of thinking. Deepak Chopra Meditation: Each one of us has an “old way” of being. For me personally this “old way” is my reactive and anxious self. Also a very critical and judgmentalContinue reading “Resurrection Is…”