Personal Responsibility Archives - Page 5 of 6

Don’t Lose Sight of the Small Things You Can Do.

December 19, 2017November 3, 2016 by Debi Simons

Pine seedling growing in a cup

Betcha been wondering when I was going to refer to the Gretchen Rubin podcast again, right? I think it’s been two weeks or so.

So, for a little background: I am obsessed with the upcoming election. (I don’t post anything partisan on this blog; if you want to know my take on the matter, click on the “Personal and Political” tab above.) I have a couple of news sources that come directly to my inbox, and I find it very hard to get started on my day without reading at least some of the articles posted there.

What’s Your Empty Water Jar?

December 20, 2017October 20, 2016 by Debi Simons

Row after row of clay waterjugs Are you familiar with the story in the Gospel of John chapter 4 about Jesus’ meeting with the woman at the well? I’ve been taught it since I was in Sunday School. You wouldn’t think there’d be anything new for me to glean from it, would you? But there is.

We studied the passage this week in the wonderful Bible study I attend. There was a discussion question about an issue that I’d never considered before. Perhaps I’d better set the stage a bit, just in case you’re not familiar with the narrative:

But Do Your Work Well.

December 21, 2017August 31, 2016 by Debi Simons

So the titles of yesterday’s and today’s posts fit together: Calm down, Martha! But do your work well.

A couple of ideas culled from a recently-heard sermon at my church on work: Avoid working simply for a paycheck (“working for the weekend”–as the little guy in the picture seems to be doing) or valuing yourself solely by your work and how well you do it. Instead, do your work for God’s glory and the good of mankind. A pretty high bar!

Always Take the Four-Hour Horse Ride.

May 4, 2019June 17, 2016 by Debi Simons

Jim, Debi on horseback with the wrangler at the summitof the trail

Here’s the second of our two wonderful guides on our wonderful horseback ride that we took last week in Ouray. (You may have wondered why the previous horseback-ride-related picture was of a cowboy and his dog, with no horses. It was such a cute shot that I couldn’t resist.)

For lack of planning ahead . . .

May 4, 2019November 4, 2015 by Debi Simons

Cartoon of cat picturing a fish . . . a blessing was lost!

I call it “the horrible sinking feeling.” It occurs when I get hungry, even though my blood sugar may be perfectly normal. (I’ve checked it at times, including this morning.) I get fuzzy-headed and have this empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. Sometimes I feel sleepy. This morning it happened again as I sat in the lecture of the Bible study group I attend. The teaching director is a wonderful woman who always has great insights; I enjoy and profit from her very much. But I was struggling to stay alert.

Fantastic Relationship Advice

April 24, 2018September 29, 2015 by Debi Simons

I’ve written about Laura Doyle before in my post on her book The Surrendered Wife and have mentioned her several other times. Let me be quite clear on the matter: I do not agree with her on a number of points. You can follow the link above to read about some of my issues with her. However, that being said, I have to say that most of the time she’s right on the money. She has started a blog to which I subscribe, and the post I discuss today is one of the best short pieces of advice you’ll ever see on human relationships, especially marriage.

Can “Serial” Add to Your Happiness?

April 24, 2018June 24, 2015 by Debi Simons

image from Serial website

Just in case you don’t know what “Serial” is:

In 1999 an 18-year-old Baltimore girl named Hae Min Lee was murdered and her body found in a park not far from her high school. Her ex-boyfriend, a Pakistani Muslim named Adnan Syed, was arrested and charged with the murder; no other suspect was ever considered. The first trial ended in a mistrial; the second trial ended in a guilty verdict and Syed has been incarcerated in a supermax prison ever since. A family friend and lawyer tried to get attention paid to the poor job done by the defense and the many inconsistencies in witness testimony, but she was unsuccessful in her efforts until she decided to try bringing the story to the media in some way. She contacted a journalist named Sarah Koenig who became interested and ended up doing a 12-part podcast on the case, titled “Serial.” This series exploded in popularity, with 68 million downloads on iTunes alone.

Hunger Is the Best Sauce

September 5, 2019June 18, 2015 by Debi Simons

Did your mother ever say, “Don’t spoil your dinner!” when you were asking for a snack at 5:00 in the afternoon? Mine did, I’m sure, although there wasn’t much in the way of snack food at our house. (I would sometimes eat a spoonful of crunchy peanut butter if I got hungry between meals; as snacks go, that wasn’t too bad of a choice.) The specific reason for waiting until dinner was that you were going to have real food then, something nicely prepared, and it would be a shame not to be hungry for it.

The Future Will Become the Present, Part II

April 24, 2018May 22, 2015 by Debi Simons

Yesterday I wrote about my failure to enjoy the process of preparing for an event in the future. Today I want to look at another mistake that I often make: failing to prepare adequately for that future because of procrastination. I don’t think there’s ever been a meal or reception I’ve prepared that included everything I’d planned. At some point of the procedures I realize that there’s no way I can get everything done and so something gets cut. Usually it’s not a problem, but I have to say that it probably would have been good to include the breadsticks in Tuesday’s dinner. I tend to vastly underestimate how long it will take to prepare the menu. I think I have plenty of time when I don’t. The future has arrived, and I’m not ready.

Procrastination Meltdown

April 21, 2018April 14, 2015 by Debi Simons

You know that warning given about mutual funds and other investments: “Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.” Well, if you’re a regular reader of the blogs on this website you may remember my post over in the food section about the last Cherry Creek Chorale retreat breakfast, which I said was pretty stress-free. I had things done ahead of time and it was almost a little bit boring to be standing around and waiting for the crowds to descend.

I should have remembered the slogan given above. Just because I did it right once doesn’t mean I’m going to do it right again. So I found myself strangely reluctant to get going this time. I wasn’t making anything too demanding, not like the previous sweet-roll extravaganza. Just homemade granola with yogurt and my signature green-chili-cheese-corn casserole. It was as if I thought that the lack of procrastination from last time would magically carry over to this time. But of course that wasn’t true.