Category: accountable

Devotional

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, appreciate, beauty

April 11 2025

Psalm 139 Verses 13-14

13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

Our bodies are wondrous things. It is amazing that something so complex can work so well. It is so incredible to see a child born….to see the first breath drawn. All that grown from two tiny cells. It doesn’t seem possible. So beautiful and so fragile. Only God could create such beauty.

If only we cared for our bodies with equal fervor. We eat more than we should, smoke cigarettes’, don’t exercise and do lots of other things that wear us out before our time. We are not careful with God’s creation.

Prayer: Thank you God for the gift of life. Thank you for the bodies that you created to house our souls. May we learn to treat the temple of our soul with more caring. AMEN

Devotional

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, needy, poor

March 21 2025

Psalm 41 Verse 1-2

1 Blessed is he who considers the poor![a]
    The Lord delivers him in the day of trouble;
2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;
    he is called blessed in the land;
    thou dost not give him up to the will of his enemies.

We don’t want to see the poor and needy. It disturbs us. Probably because we feel guilty about not doing something. We see homeless people on the street and they are dirty, wear layers of clothing (have everything they own on their backs on in a cart) and often smell bad. They are not pleasant to be around. They often beg for money and w generally assume that they will use the money or liquor or drugs. How much we assume.! I wonder if we would feel the same way if we new their story.

Jesus calls us to give of our abundance. Maybe we think we don’t have much to give but by comparison we are very rich. The Psalm tells us that we will be happy if we help…that help will come to us in our time of need. It reminds me of the saying “what comes around goes around!.” If we do nothing that could be a scary thought.

Prayer: God of the poor homeless and needy. Help ust o not pass by when we wncunter te poor.Let us see the incredible plenty that we hae and inspire us to share. Remind us that we, also, culd be one of those in need but for circumstances. AMEN

Devotional

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, choices, peace, peacemakers

March 19 2025

Psalm 33 Verse 12

12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
    the people he chose for his inheritance.

These are tough time for our nation. We know that leaders don’t work from the purest of motives. Everyone seems to have an agenda. We all think we now the best thing for everyone. Yet I doubt that ay of us would make al the right choices. After all the only way that is perfect is God’s way. Even those who say that they are speaking God’s will aren’t “pure in heart.”

So what do we do? Only what we can. Each day, in each situation we try our best to follow the example given to us by the life of Jesus. Even in politics…especially in politics.

Prayer: Lord, keep our nation in your care. Guide our leaders to make right decisions. Encourage us to speak out against wrongful actions and harmful choices. Show us your way to pring peace to the world. Each of us is but one but one voice is better than none.

Devotional

by worrylessjourney, posted in abuse, accountable, danger, environment

March 17 2025

Psalm 24 Verses 1-2

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
2 for he founded it on the seas
    and established it on the waters.

Sometimes I think that we believe that we made the earth and it is all there for us to use. We create factories that pollute the air. We dump sewage in our rivers and streams and destroy forests and wildlife. We can do that…we are in charge. But we didn’t make the earth. Ii is just on loan to us. We are supposed to take care of it not destroy it. When are we going to wake up and understand that we are stewards not owners.

Prayer: Thank you gracious God for the earth that we live on. Remind us that we are to care for all of creation. Help us to be co-creators with you and not destroyers. AMEN

Devotional

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, arrogance, compassion, love

March 12 2025

Psalm 16 5, 9-11

5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
    you make my lot secure.

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
    my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
    nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
    you will fill me with joy in your presence,
    with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

“You make known to me the path of life.” How many times have you showed me the right path. It’s in the Bible. Also your voice speaks in the Christian people around me. But still, I have trouble going the way way or doing the right thing. It’s something we all do. It’s a lot easier to do what we want. Don’t worry about if it’s right or not…just please yourself.

Our culture teaches us to be self sufficient…to be individuals…to make our own decisions. Even our songs agree….remember the one that said “I did it my way?”

It is only when we put God first that our perspective begins to change. Just like being in love and wanting to do everything for the person we love. When God is that person then things change. Suddenly things that seemed OK before are no longer pleasing to us. Pleasing God give us pleasure.

The wonderful thing is that God will not abandon us no matter which path we choose.

Prayer: O God, thank you for loving us and showing us you love over and over. Teach us that when loving you first everything else will fall into place. AMEN

Help us find Hope

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, choices, community, consequences, frustration, hope, problems

Well, here I am again trying to get back into a routine. I need it. I have not been giving my voice a chance to be heard nor have I destressed by sharing frustrations and thoughts. For my own well being I need to get back to writing. I haven’t even written anything else. I have sunk into a low and it is time to move on.

There are so manhy things going on in this country for the first time in my life I am frightened for us. Our leaders and the press spread fire and dissent. We grow further apart. My grandson who is 21 does not expect to live past thirty. He reflects the views of many of our young adults. They have lost their hope and sense of safety. The suicide rate is rising exponentially. Japan has seen a decline in births. We may begin to see the same thing since there is no concept of permanence among those in their twneties and thirties.

I have no objection to those who want to just live together except that it has less sense of committment and it is the children who suffer when someone decides to just step away.

Arnold Toynbee, a history phiilosipher, says that when a nation’s morality, culttural norms, and governement dissolves into chaos that nation is on the way out. I consider us there.

My greatest wish is that we can recover from this but the signs are not favorable. I want my grandchildren and great grandchildren to have hope for the future.

Connections

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, connections, consequences

I’ve been reading the book “the Song of the Cell” by Siddhartha Mukerjee and his owrk has morphed into connections with other things I have been reading. I am stunned by the number of times I have been made aware of the importance of connectivity.

Connectivity is the central point in the thougths of Brene Brown and others and now I am seeing it in the book by Mukerjee. Connectivity goes from its importance in the functioning of the human body and every other living thing to connectivity we see in each society. It has made me realize that all of what we are relies on being connected. From the smallist examples to societal groups, countries, continents, to earth and beyond.

The problem is that we don’t see the importance of it. We are unable to see that when even the smallest parts of cells don’t communicate nothing works. Society is so compartmentalized that we believe that our part can function forever without the rest. But if the cells in the heart don’t communicate and work together the whole organism fails. I so wish that there were some way that we could realize that this applies to everything in the world.

Gossip

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, understand, understanding

I just remembered a story that I must have heard on a TV show. It was powerful but didn’t get into my quote book. I have been too stressed to see aha’s when they come at me. I want to share it here and am sorry that I can’t tell you where I saw it.

A woman felt guilty about some gossip that she had passed on and went to ask her priest to confess and ask for forgiveness. He told her to go home and take a pillow from her bed and go to the roof of the building with scissors or a knife. She was to rip holes in the pillow and come back to him. She did what he asked and went back to see him. He asked her “what did you see?” She said “feathers flying everywhere.” He said “go back and find all those feathers.” She protested that it would be impossible.

He replied. “That is what happens to gossip.”

Finding Habits

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, balance, habits, patterns

Lately I find myself unable, or maybe I should say unwilling, to write. It’s as if I can’t get in touch with my thoughts and get them down here.

Today I have finally gone back to meditation thanks to the app Insight Timer. This is by far the best app I have found for meditation. It is amazing. I am hoping that getting back to my much needed routine of silence and quiet will bring my thoughts into focus. It doesn’t work to avoid yourself with distractions.

Years ago I had the best yoga teacher I have ever found. She was absolutely amazing. Yoga class was not just one hour but an hour and a half. The last 30 minutes were spent with meditation. By the time I had to move away meditation was my life support. It took me calmly though a surgery that made me miss Christmas with my children. I want to be back there.

It is hard to get back into a habit. We have to consciously make the effort. It so much easier to just vegetate. I am done with that.

Christmas will soon be here and advent is my favorite season and I have almost let it slide by me. Today is a new day!

I will be better!

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, accountable, choices

I haven’t written in so long that I will be surprised if anyone remembers me. I seem to function well day to day but can’t spend time thinking. TV has become my escape. I don’t like this version of me. It is up to me to change this. Choices are there I just have to choose well.

My dogs continue to worry me. One is with my daughter for a short while and the other has some health issues that concern the vet. I hope we can pin down the problem soon and that it is minor.

My basset hounds are big dogs with short legs which means that they can pull me down or trip me up easily. I fell earlier this week getting tangled with Crash. (on carpet thank goodness). No major hurt except for muscle pains. I feel blessed that it wasn’t more.

As I look back over this short post I wonder where the real me has gone. I will do better! I am determined!