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AMEN!!! Congrats on the degree to be!!!!I'll pour you some Ice tea so you can rehyderate after all that part time work!!! lol 38 hr maybe part time for some but....not for the HARD WORKING folks!

Welcome Freebubbles.. I am Linda, the moderator of this forum.. or at least that's what they tell me..lol. I am a Unitarian Universalist Pagan with Buddhist leanings, among other things.

Right now, I am working toward a degree in Hospice College.. yes, there really is such a thing! Right now I am a volunteer Hospice Chaplain. I also just enrolled in a CNA course... I am an ordained Pagan Minister, and High Priestess of a group where I live. I also teach a few classes online and offline, and am currently working on a book... Oh, and in my spare time I work in a Pharmacy..lol.

I have six wonderful children and seven beautiful grandchildren, and 12 cat kids who have adopted me.

As for the praying hard issue, I can honestly say that I have never been disappointed in God, because I don't believe in God.
But, I can also say that I do on occasion stare upward into the heavens and picture the divine Goddess watching over me. And I say these words.. I think that Starhawk wrote what many Pagans feel in their hearts..

The Charge of the Goddess

Listen to the words of the Great Goddess, who in ancient times was named Artemis, Diana, Astarte, Ishtar, Aphrodite, Venus, Cerridwen, the Morrigan, Freyja, the White Lady, and many other names.

Whenever you have need of my aid, assemble in a secret place at least once a month, especially at the full moon. Know that my laws and love shall make you free, for no man can prevent your worship of me in your mind and heart. Listen well when you come into my presence, and I shall teach you of deep mysteries, ancient and powerful. I require no sacrifices or pain of your bodies, for I am mother of all things, the Creatress who made you out of my love, and the One who endures through all time.

I am the One who is the beauty of the Earth, the green of growing things. I am the white moon whose light is full among the stars, soft upon the Earth. From me all things are born, to me all things, in their season return.

Let my joyous worship be in your hearts, for all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals. You see Me in the love of man and woman, the love of parent and child, the love of humans to all My creations. When you create with your hands, I am there. I blow the breath of life into the seeds you plant, whether of plant or child. Always I stand beside you whispering soft words of wisdom and guidance.

All seekers of the Mysteries must come to me, for I am the True Source, the Keeper of the Cauldron. All who seek to know Me, know this. All your seeking and yearning will avail you nothing, unless you know the mystery: For if what you seek, you find not within, you will never find it without. For behold, I have been with you form the beginning, and I will gather you to my breast at the end of your earthly existence.

I think that this part sums it up pretty well:

All your seeking and yearning will avail you nothing, unless you know the mystery: For if what you seek, you find not within, you will never find it without.

Love and Light..

thats the irony Bubbles... it's supposed to be part time with only 10-15 hours a week (i am the on-call person) and i did almost 40 this week and I am working on monday. Pay period ends on wednesday and I am looking at over a 300 dollar check! YAY!

It's my part time second job... since I have my own salon-services company (its just me but company sounds so professional) where I do in-home salon services. I am also a speaker and advocate for hire (come on people, hire me!). That and being a writer LOL

I am a jack of all trades ;0)

Hello Linda!! your new (to me at lest)!!! lol So that is the Charge of the Goddess? I have heard of if but didnt know what it said or was! to be honest I thought it was a story of a Witch's life!! Well some who have been here long enough and remember me know that I am a Christian who is studying other faiths mostly Wicca and Pagan some Buddhist, and what ever calles my attention!!! lol I have been a CNA, CMA, and went to college to do LVN. RN, PTA or OTA but by the time a got my basics done I was so sick of the field of nurseing (ok I loved the helping others but the poltics sucked!!!!!!) that i just quit!!!

I am a ...Well we was RMT and now we are just LMTs. as a Massage thereapist I can help other and be my own boss (so now I kick my own but and pay the bills too lol)!!!
I call my self Dalhart Massage Clinic and It is just me but it Sounded better then Dalhart Massage Me!!! lol so far here I have not got one prev!!!! YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO this is a first so I guess its all in the name!!!

I totaly get it Jase !!! believe me i do! lol

Quoted: by editor athiest:

Prayer, meditation, even casual communication about a problem sometimes helps us figure out the solution. I'm not sure I share your confidence about the answer always coming, though. Prayer or meditation without action is pretty much pointless.

Commenting by Chia
Indeed and bravo!
I agree with this and did not mean to imply that if you ask for something the universe always delivers.
That is like saying (God gives you nothing you cannot handle) Which I always resented because that took away my right as a child to feel angry upset and wanting to do something about how I was feeling. Not just pray or meditate.
Give me those darn paddles so I can row this boat to shore!
Action determination sweat and that darn think called (assertive) diplomacy at times is absolutely neccessary for those adversities that sometimes hit me like a brick. (ouch)!
Chia

I guess that we all find our own way to whatever purpose we are here for.. through religion, meditation, prayer, chanting, intent etc. The search can be a long one or a short one depending on what you feel your purpose may be. I am taking the long, scenic route this time around.. and stopping along the way to sample everything that life has to offer without comparing the apples to the oranges..lol.

Some people like vanilla ice-cream.. I want to sample all the flavors. You never know what kind of a treat you may be in for.. some are a whole lot tastier than others.. but they are all good when it comes right down to it.

My life purpose... hmmmmm.. I wonder how many of us really know what they may be.. we get so tangled up in our titles and our own importance that we forget to keep seeking what our spirit is telling us we need to know. I would have to say that I keep finding myself in situations where I am helping others along their own pathways.. and that is fine with me.

Life is too short to get wrapped up in the "I know more than you do" stuff... We all have a whole lot to learn from each other if we shut up and listen.

Love and Light..

Life is too short to get wrapped up in the "I know more than you do" stuff... We all have a whole lot to learn from each other if we shut up and listen.

AMEN to that !!!! lol

Amen again ;0)

My mom used to say that if the world just shut up and listened to each other for 5 minutes, it could end a lot of the troubles because someone somewhere might know an answer you never considered!

The main thing that I have learned in Hospice is to shut up and listen. When people are dying they want to tell THEIR story.. and they are not interested in my story or my interpretation of their story.

So, I sit and I listen for hours many times... and once in a while I might throw in a word or two when asked a question.. but that doesn't happen very often.

I have also learned to listen to the silence. Oftentimes people who are dying want quiet time with someone there to just hold their hand. And, that silence speaks volumes.

Listening is a fine art that takes a whole lot of cultivation. I find that even at work it has become a habit to listen to what someone is really saying.. without finishing their sentence for them or anticipating what they are going to say..

My mother would be proud..lol She always said.. "Think before you speak."

Love and Light..

LOL!!! I think I talk to much sometimes and with some people because its like they dont hear me they hear the words and pick it apart or twist it around to where I think we are talking about 2 different things and I try to clearify.

I should learn to shut up more and lesson more....

I am not good with words anyways I am better at feelings and empathy...I like to watch people and lesson to how they talk to others and about others it speaks volumes about them!!!

what some one praises you for gives insight on what they value most about people! what they critizies tells you what they hate in themselves the most and or past hurts things that people have done,said to or about them!!

Scary aint it? how we reveal ourselves when we think we are covering it up?