Let’s see, what will we gain by investing in digital coins (DT’s Airy-fairy coins?) I’ll Tell you: remember the recession of 2008. That incident was brought on by the greed of billionaires who sold a bill of goods to desperate people. Well, the recession for Donny’s airy-fairy coins is going to be much worse. I am praying that the recession won’t be as bad as the depression in 1929, which was also created by the extraordinarily rich selling a bill of goods to desperate people.
March 14, 2025
I was listening to the radio when an evangelical Churchie type program came on. I was too lazy to get up and change the station, so I listened until I wanted to hit someone during the sermon. However, the preacher did say something that needs a bit more elucidation.
Now, this is a crucial point so LISTEN UP and pay attention.
God Is not a Christian! Got that. BUT God is also not a Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, or part of any other religion. The entity called God, or Allah, or Divine, or Holy Spirit, or The One isn’t part of any known or unknown faith belief. The concept of God is a human construct that WE use to understand the unknowable. Because the unknowable is a mystery, when they/it interacts with us, it’s so strange, so beyond what we know, we have to give it a name in order to make sense of it and fit it into our world view.
So why am I saying this? Well, when we recognize that the “God” someone else worships or prays to is our “God” doors open and we see that the other worshipers are no different than we are, we are family. Each person belongs to the family of God. The mystery of the unknown becomes friendlier and more accessible to ALL of us. No one has a God who is better than anyone else’s God because it is the same God!
Ruth Jewell, ©April 15, 2024
Offer Prayers
If you dislike someone pray for them
Offer prayers for their pain
and suffering in their lives
Offer prayers for the release of
the obstacles they struggle with
Offer prayers that they will find
hope and joy in their lives.
Saying prayers for those who you do not like
Changes your perspective of them.
You will see them in new light as people who
Are in such pain they must hurt others
to feel good about themselves.
You probably won’t change them
But you will change you.
And after all is not that what we are to do.
We are to transform ourselves into people
Who love all humankind,
and all the creations of the Great Creator.
To love without reservation, with no expectations.
Loving without expectations opens our hearts
Ability to give freely of ourselves no matter
Who needs it or expects it.
Loving prayers are actions opening us to
Peace between us and all
Around us.
Ruth Jewell, December 29, 2023
Abiding Spirit, surrounding us in love,
Honored be your name.
Your Kingdom grows in all Creation.
Sacred is the work of the
Greening and guarding of the earth.
Your breath moves about and through us
As we walk your ways.
Fill us with the bread of your word,
Forgive the errors of our ways,
Just as we forgive the errors
Of those around us.
Guard the greening path we walk,
And keep those who would do us harm far from our travels.
We praise the Kingdom of your Universe,
Filled with the power of your love in all our
Yesterdays, todays and tomorrow’s,
Now and forever more.
Amen
By Ruth Jewell, ©April 20, 2021
This is my prayer
that we live as the Carpenter did;
loving justice,
doing kindness, and
walking humbly with God.
This is my prayer
that we be in community as the Carpenter was:
knowing we are all Children of God in the Spirit,
no Jew or Greek,
no slave or free,
no female or male,
no human or animal.
That we remember we are all one in the Spirit.
This is my prayer
that we remember who we are:
the creation of God,
partners of God in creation,
living as one in creation.
This is my prayer,
that we remember we have a history older
than what we have been taught.
That we remember we are better
than what we have become.
This is my prayer.
Ruth Jewell, ©January 3, 2021
Today I thought I would share my morning prayer ritual with you. It is nothing special just morning prayers. However, you will notice I use the name “Universal Divine” rather than “God”. As I have gotten older, and hopefully a little wiser, I have learned that there are so many paths to light and love that one name just does not fit for me anymore.
My Ritual is divided into 2 major portions, Prayer of intention, and Prayers of Petition with silence separating major division. I must admit on occasion I use a singing bowl at the beginning of each period of silence which seems to draw me deeper into myself. This is also a standing prayer, which is how it started out, but as I get older, I do think I will be doing more sitting than standing. These old legs and knees are not up to it on some days. So, If you want to model a ritual after mine do not feel it has to be a standing prayer.
Blessings be to one and all.
Prayer of Intention
Universal Divine
I stand before you
As I came into this universe
Come Your Presence, fill my heart
Come Your Presence, fill my mind
Come Your Presence, fill every cell of this clay vessel
Silence
Divine Universal
May my voice be your voice
May my hands be your hands
May the words and deeds I send into the universe
be your words and deeds.
Silence
Prayers of Petition
Blessing be to
John the beloved
Blessing be to
Lisa the soul friend
Blessing be to
Louis the soul keeper
Blessing be to
Esmerelda the joy bringer
Blessing be to
Charlie the snuggler
Blessing be to
George the friend of years
Blessing be to
Sweet pea the bringer of song
Silence
Blessing be to friends
Living in pain and ill health
May they be held in the light and be healed
Silence
Blessing be to leaders
Living in the dark
May they find their souls and return to the light
Silence
Blessing be to leaders yet to come
Living in the light
May they find strength in the light and not waver from the path
Silence
Blessing of the Earth
Blessing of the sea and sky
Blessings of love and light and peace
Blessing of the Universal One now and forever be with us all
Silence
Amen and Amen
Written by Ruth Jewell, November 27, 2020
A man was walking along a trail high on a cliff when he slipped and fell. As he fell, he managed to grab a tree root. The terrified man had no way of getting back up, so he started praying.
“Please God, come and save me! I know you will come. Please come God!”
From the top of the cliff he heard a voice call down, “hello, I have a rope and I am going to throw it down, grab a hold and I will pull you up.”
The man said, “No that’s fine, God will save me, I know God will come, I’m a good person, God will come.”
“Ok” said the voice.
The man continued to pray, “Please God, I know you are there and can hear me, please come and save me!”
From along the cliff face the man heard a voice, “Hello, I’m rock climbing and can come over and help you get down, can you hold on for 10 minutes?”
The man said, “No I’m fine, God will come and help me, I know God will come.”
“Ok” said the voice.
Now the tree root was getting a bit weak and the man was getting worried God might not show up in time. So, he prayed, really hard. “Oh God, please, please! I’m begging you to come and save me! My tree root is weakening, and I am so afraid! Please God come save me!”
A third time the man heard a voice, “Hello up there, we have gathered some friends and we will get a lot of hay and pillows below you to break your fall. In just a few minutes you can let go and we will catch you.”
But again, the man said, “No thanks, I’ve prayed, and I know God has heard me and God will come and get me down, thanks anyway.”
“Ok” said the group of voices.
Suddenly the root broke and the man fell to bottom of the cliff and died. When he reached heaven and saw God he asked. “Why didn’t you come and save me, I prayed and prayed?”
God smiled and said, “I did come, I sent a man with a rope and you turned him down. I sent a climber and you turned her down. I sent an entire village, but you turned them down as well. I simply assumed you wanted to die.”
The moral of this story is our prayers are answered always, but often not in the way we expect. This story also illustrates a point for today’s world. We have the answers in front of us, we just don’t want to see them. The Holy Spirit has given us the tools to fix our problems but if we don’t wish to use them, then well, She is going to assume we simply want to die.
P.S.: Notice, It was a man who fell from the cliff, if it had been a woman, she would have grabbed that rope in a heartbeat. Women understand a gift when it is given.
Ruth Jewell, ©June 2, 2020
Photo: Microsoft Word, Stock Image
In the roughly 2 months since the stay home order was given, I have made some very un-scientific observations:
What does any of this mean, well, probably nothing. I keep trying to remember that none of us are alone. We have each other and the Holy Divine still walks with us. Still despite all that I know, have seen, and experienced I am sometimes afraid. Afraid for our grandchildren, and the children of our friends. I am afraid for those who work with the homeless with little to no protective gear and pray every day for their safety. My fear leads to anger when I hear of the lack of concern for our indigenous neighbors, all people of color, people who are disabled and therefore especially at risk, and the elderly who, unlike John and I, are confined within an institution.
I am also afraid for our nation, I am afraid for my family, and I am afraid for my community. I do not know what the future will bring. I pray, I hope, I pray,
Ruth Jewell, ©May 24, 2020
Photo: Troublesome Creek, WA, 2006, by Ruth Jewell
As we continue to struggle with isolation, fears surrounding Covid-19, too much information, the lack of information, and misinformation I offer this prayer as we all journey the road together.
Ruth Jewell, ©April 28, 2020
Photo: Bryce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona, 2005, by Ruth Jewell.
The Doctor sits beside the empty bed
respirator and tubing all about
bags and bandages clutter the floor
tired, so tired, she weeps
tears fall on the rumpled sheets
I couldn’t save her
she couldn’t breathe
I tried, Oh I tried so hard
She gasped her last
She said “thank you.”
Ruth Jewell, ©April 8, 2020
A Quiet Walk 