We have all heard the “put your oxygen mask on before trying to help others” speech but how often do we do it? Self-care is necessary if we want to help others and we need to be serious about it. Someone once told me to think about my physical, emotional, and spiritual energy as differentContinue reading “Being Goal Number 2: Self Care”
Author Archives: Julie Cicora
Number 1 “Being” Goal
My number one “being” goal is to have a consistent daily prayer practice. I combine my praying with knitting for two reasons: I like to knit and I find it meditative and calming, and it becomes a visual record of my progress. If I set aside time every day to knit with God, my wholeContinue reading “Number 1 “Being” Goal”
Balancing
An ecosystem consists of living and nonliving parts that work together to sustain life. If the system is in balance, then life flourishes. When the parts are out of balance, there are problems. The same is true for us. We need to find balance in our lives in order to flourish and that can beContinue reading “Balancing”
Going Through the Trash
When we got to our grandkid’s house, the dogs had gotten into the trash. They were supposed to be in their kennels but they escaped (or a grandkid forgot to lock the doors of their kennels) and really enjoyed going through garbage. When we lived in the Netherlands, the two of us only created aContinue reading “Going Through the Trash”
Giving up stuff for Lent
Imagine taking everything out of your kitchen and putting it someplace else in your house. We recently did this because we needed to replace our kitchen cabinets and it was eye-opening. This will probably come as no surprise but we had no idea what we had hidden in all of those spaces. We had expiredContinue reading “Giving up stuff for Lent”
Sunday
Psalm 27, verse 10 Hearken to my voice, O Lord, when I call; *have mercy on me and answer me. Sunday is a day of rest, more meditations next week.
The Power of Music
We are visiting grandchildren. I stayed home with the nine-year-old and the two-year-old while everyone else went to baseball practice. Our job was to clean up the kitchen. As you can imagine, this is not a popular job and there were a lot of dirty dishes from the eight people who had just had dinner.Continue reading “The Power of Music”
Lament
My favorite book of the Bible is the Psalms for good reason. This ancient poetry expresses every human emotion and is especially good for the times when all you want to do is cry. The pictures coming out of Ukraine are unthinkable. A woman’s hospital bombed. Pregnant women about to give birth injured. How canContinue reading “Lament”
An Unexpected Gift
I went out for a run this morning in a strange city. There is a beautiful walkway next to a river which was pretty much deserted in the early morning except for people setting up tables and chairs outside of their restaurants. I was struggling with the heat and humidity and the fact that IContinue reading “An Unexpected Gift”
Temptation
Matthew 4.3: The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ All of us have received a “dare” to do something we know is wrong. I’m more aware of these temptations during lent. I grew up in the era of giving up chocolateContinue reading “Temptation”
Contemplative Knitting 