Author Archives: watchwordsblog

Perhaps if we all subscribed to the African concept of Ubuntu – that we all become people through other people, and that we cannot be fully human alone, we could learn a lot. There’d be less hatred and more harmony. Queen Rania of Jordan Meditation: One of the illnesses in America is group isolation. PeopleContinue reading “Group Isolation and Hatred…”

Your children need your presence more than your presents. Jesse Jackson Meditation: A book worth reading is “The available parent” by John Duffy. One of the major obstacles for us parents of teenagers is often our own anxiety. Sometimes we listen to society’s dark predictions and negative stereotypes about teens. Then we fear the worst. WeContinue reading “Expect the Good…”

Your body hears everything your mind says. ~ Naomi Judd Meditation: Looking up quotes about “I am my body”, I found several famous people who said: “I am NOT my body”… That struck me. Yes, they probably meant to say: “I am more than my body”. But I found this statement “I am not myContinue reading “I Am My Body…”

Death is what takes place within us when we look upon others not as gift, blessing, or stimulus but as threat, danger, competition. Dorothee Soelle Meditation: Four years ago I took one of my daughters out of her competitive gymnastics group. This was a difficult decision as my daughter is very athletic. The climate wasContinue reading “Life Giving Communities…”

Our Western society is showing its technological muscles in ever more threatening ways, but the experience of fear, anxiety and even despair has increased in equal proportion. Indeed, the paradox is that the powerful giants feel as powerless as a new-born babe. Henri Nouwen Meditation: For some time I could not fall asleep last night.Continue reading “Nuclear Threats…”

One of the main tasks of theology is to find words that do not divide but unite, that do not create conflict but unity, that do not hurt but heal. Henri Nouwen Meditation: Yesterday nine members of our German church council wrestled with how to negotiate between traditional and contemporary elements and language in ourContinue reading “God’s Spirit – Bridging the Gap…”

It is remarkable how easily children and grown-ups adapt to living in a dictatorship organized by lunatics. A. N. Wilson Meditation: Usually adapting to change is a healthy survival mechanism. However, if humans adapt to toxic and destructive environments, the outcome is not necessarily health. Survival possibly, but not health. A worrisome development of theContinue reading “Adapting to Dictatorship?…”

And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that never were. Rainer Maria Rilke Meditation: Starting a new chapter in life is a big deal. It is like opening a new blank journal with hundreds of pages waiting to be written on. I could see the experience of “new” on the facesContinue reading “New Beginnings…”

When we clear the physical clutter from our lives, we literally make way for inspiration and ‘good, orderly direction’ to enter. Julia Cameron Meditation: This Monday school will begin again. The Atlanta traffic volume will pick up and the hustle and bustle of the fall schedule will initially overwhelm many families. I can’t wait until the new schedule will become manageable andContinue reading “Freedom from Clutter…”

People tend to dwell more on negative things than on good things. So the mind then becomes obsessed with negative things, with judgments, guilt and anxiety produced by thoughts about the future and so on. Eckhart Tolle Meditation: How do we not allow negativity to invade our thinking and our feeling? Every day we areContinue reading “Obsessed with Negative Things…”