Author Archives: watchwordsblog

If my hands are fully occupied in holding on to something, I can neither give nor receive. Dorothee Soelle Meditation: Intimacy means that we give and receive freely. Intimacy means that we experience trust and interdependency. What is making it impossible for us to be intimately involved? When we are fully occupied with holding onContinue reading “No Longer Intimately Involved…”

God has no other hands than ours. If the sick are to be healed, it is our hands that will heal them. If the lonely and the frightened are to be comforted, it is our embrace, not God’s, that will comfort them. Dorothee Solle Meditation: I listened to NPR yesterday on my way home fromContinue reading “God Has No Other Hands Than Ours…”

The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children. Dietrich Bonhoeffer Meditation: Our current administration is cutting after school programs, reducing special education support and the support of the office of civil rights. Public schools and schools that are struggling are receiving less funding, while private and charter schoolContinue reading “What You Have Not Done For The Children…”

Relationships are eternal. The ‘separation’ is another chapter in the relationship. Often, letting go of the old form of the relationship becomes a lesson in pure love much deeper than any would have learned had the couple stayed together. Marianne Williamson Meditation: What do we say about divorce? The bible clearly states that divorce “displeasesContinue reading “Separation and Divorce…”

As someone who has faced as much disappointment as most people, I’ve come to trust not that events will always unfold exactly as I want, but that I will be fine either way. Marianne Williamson Meditation: Sometimes we pray for just one thing or one outcome. We fixate our emotional and spiritual life on oneContinue reading “I Will Be Fine Either Way…”

Letting go of our need to control can set us and others free. It can set our Higher Power free to send the best to us. Melody Beattie  Meditation: When we suffer within chaotic circumstances, we can get caught in the obsession of having to fix things and needing to control our environment. We often are too anxiousContinue reading “Letting Go Of The Need To Control…”

I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it. Groucho Marx Meditation: When we get up in the morning, we make an unconsciousContinue reading “Happiness Is Today…”

Intimacy is the abilit to be influenced by the other while letting go of the fear of being controlled. Intimacy is the choice to embrace differences and become so vulnerable as to allow the other’s perspective to complement one’ s own. DLK Meditation: When we become intimate with each other, we allow the other’s perspectiveContinue reading “Intimacy”

The greatest danger, I argued, was civil obedience, the submission of individual conscience to governmental authority. Such obedience led to the horrors we saw in totalitarian states, and in liberal states it led to the public’s acceptance of war whenever the so-called democratic government decided on it…  Howard Zinn Meditation: Today my daughter was partContinue reading “Civil Disobedience…”

The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness. Niels Bohr Meditation: Many people have been arrested in Russia during peaceful demonstrations against the regime’s corruption. Especially opposition leaders are being targeted. In the recent weeks several individuals who were about to testifyContinue reading “The Spy And His Daughter Who Got Poisoned…”