Posts by BrendaCloutier

6

Enduring The Dark Season (poem)

by BrendaCloutier in

jw
friends

enduring the dark season .

the sky painted with watercolour brush strokes.

even now at mid-day, in pastel pink and grays.

BrendaCloutier

Enduring The Dark Season
11/29/92

The sky painted with watercolour brush strokes
Even now at mid-day, in pastel pink and grays

Skeletal trees loom on the far hill
Shrouded in fairytale mists
Standing sentinel to the impending assault
That is coming in the form of winter

I turn my collar to the cold
Cursing that I had not worn a warmer cover

Standing, watching passersby this end of November
The “joy” of Christmas yet to reach their hearts
Four months to go until spring, only four months
To endure the cold, the withdrawn introversion of
This dark season

Turning to go, still in awe at the stark beauty
Leaves blow past, while others hold fast to near naked limbs

I am quiet

13

Can you get along with a person with a completely different Rel. belief ?

by JH in

jw
friends

can you get along with a person with a completely different religious belief than yours?.

would you even marry a person with a completely different belief than yours?.

is the bible right when it says to marry in the lord only?.

BrendaCloutier

Can you get along with a person with a completely different religious belief than yours?

Yes, and I do. I have a pagan/buddhist oriented belief structure. Kevan says he's athiest but he's really agnostic. I have friends who belong to a number of different religions, and we get along fine as long as there is respect, acceptence, or at least tolerance.

Would you even marry a person with a completely different belief than yours?

Yes, I would and I have.

Is the bible right when it says to marry in the lord only?

No, because that is a canon designed for power and control. The "lord" doesnt' care.

Again, if there is love and respect, acceptance or at least tolerance, it's not a problem.

44

If you experienced a supernatural event, could you convince anyone?

by free2beme in

jw
friends

i can not remember anything in the bible, that said the book of revelations would be the end of god's word to man.

at the same time, i know there are many parts to the accounts in the bible, that were not put in or are not accepted as inspired by god.

with this in mind, what if your morning started like this;.

BrendaCloutier

I've had some amazing experiences that a skeptic will not believe. I wouldn't necessarily believe them unless I experienced them! Many of them were seen or experienced by more than one person, so I had my "proof".

I would never be able to convince anyone who had a closed mind to such things. Even if they "experienced" whatever "it" was, a person with a closed mind would either ignore it, or pooh-pooh it as "mass hysteria".

27

saddam hussein found guilty , will hang

by orbison11 in

this just in on cnn, he and two others foung guilty and they are to die by hanging, although he has a 10 day window to appeal, i think they said it was to happen (death) within 30 days.. orb.

BrendaCloutier

Like my Kevan sez "knocking over an ant hill"

21

Raising well rounded and balanced kids...what have you done right?

by My MILs worst nightmare, a nonJW in

jw
friends

parenting is one of the most difficult yet rewarding things there is.

doesn't every parent want their children to have a good moral compass, to have good manners, to be socially adept, to be compassionate, to reach their potential and even overachieve in terms of school and career, to appreciate and understand history, science, the arts and the world as a whole, to play team sports when they are younger so they can benefit from physical activity and the comraderie of a team sport, and above all to be a critical thinkers who are strong and independent so that they will not become easy prey to abusive organizations and/or abusive people?.

as a parent i have many times felt like a real failure and at other times like i am actually helping them to reach their potential.. what do you feel that you have done right in raising well rounded and balanced kids?

BrendaCloutier

no kids... I have 4 cats instead. The are well balanced and well behaved family members.

33

Forgot I was not on the NET! LMAO

by Sparkplug in

jw
friends

i had to take late movies back tonight and they were so late the store had called and told me they were charging me for them.

so i called them back and asked if it was too late because i did not want to buy these movies.

well, the store manager said no, just bring them in.

BrendaCloutier

Aww Decki, I'm sitting here reading your posts and the responses just LMFAO! I sooooo resemble that!!!

45

Why would this even cross my mind?!?!?!?!

by Juniper in

jw
friends

well, after 10 years of being together, hubby has decided that he's found his 'soul mate' (the second time this year, neither of which was me) and is moving out.. i'm thirty years old and no kids, thanks to the fact that i spent 12 years in full time service telling everyone it's better to wait until the 'new system' for raising a family.

that's all beside the point - and perhaps better suited for my counselor.

:) anyway, the thought that keeps going through my mind is "this never would have happened if i didn't leave" and "how am i going to find someone to spend my life with at this age and who will understand me the way an ex-jw can"???

BrendaCloutier

Awwww (((( Juniper ))))

Really rough stuff. But believe me, you're not too old!

I got married at 18 years old to that good JW man. We both fell away shortly after marriage because I married into the wrong dub family, and I/we were treated horribly by my new congregation!

Since I married young, and as a witness knew I would, I chose to not have children within the first 5 years of marriage, giving us a chance to settle and be ready for children (I was married in 1975!) Well, at 5 years the marriage was soooooo bad, that there was no way I was going to bring a kid into that world, even though my husband kept at me to get pregnant because it would "calm me down" and "fix our marriage". Yeah, right.

At 40 years old, I re-discovered the love of my life - no, not that "good JW husband", but a man I lived with for 2 years back in 1984-86. We just weren't ready for each other then. We've been together for 9 nears now, living together for 7-1/2, and have a "to death do us part" commitment. We have financial reasons at the moment not to marry, along with the fact that the 11 years apart, I married and divorced 2 more times. (Remember, you don't have to get married just to have sex, or because you had sex!!! THAT took me a while to get...)

I've chosen to NOT have children because my life-situation during my "breeding years" were never conducive to children. I have mourned my choice, but I've been so happy that I didn't have the additional responsibilities.

Hugs

Brenda

45

Why would this even cross my mind?!?!?!?!

by Juniper in

jw
friends

well, after 10 years of being together, hubby has decided that he's found his 'soul mate' (the second time this year, neither of which was me) and is moving out.. i'm thirty years old and no kids, thanks to the fact that i spent 12 years in full time service telling everyone it's better to wait until the 'new system' for raising a family.

that's all beside the point - and perhaps better suited for my counselor.

:) anyway, the thought that keeps going through my mind is "this never would have happened if i didn't leave" and "how am i going to find someone to spend my life with at this age and who will understand me the way an ex-jw can"???

BrendaCloutier

duplicate post

27

MsMcDucket's mom

by parakeet in

msmcducket's mother died this morning.

she posted the announcement deep in a thread she had started several months ago when her mother first became seriously ill, and as a result the post sort of got lost.

msmcducket, i hope you don't mind my taking the initiative to start a new thread about your mom.

BrendaCloutier

(((( MsMcDucket ))) ((( Family )))

You have my deepest sympathy.

10

AA and JWs

by JWdaughter in

do they have any 'directives' about jehovah's witnesses going to aa?

?

BrendaCloutier

If they see prayers etc. being done during AA meetings, they should complain because that is not supposed to be part of the meeting. When I worked in inpatient rehab & facilitated AA groups, I would tell the patients they are free to pray if they want, but only once the meeting had concluded and they had to announce that it wasn't mandatory so as to avoid people feeling uncomfortable.

I had a friend who was Irish Catholic (sexually abused as a child by his priest) converted to Judaism. When it came time for the prayer, if it was the serenity prayer, he'd join the circle. If it was the Lord's prayer, he'd back out, out of personal religius conviction. I had NO problems with that.

Myself, as the ex-bible-know-it-all-dub, I was highly embarrased that I could not recite the Lord's Prayer!

No, prayer is not necessary in AA. When confronted with G.O.D. one can translate that to Good Orderly Direction.

Unfortunatly, the active consciencious Dub in AA will miss out on a great deal of the fellowship that help make recover possible for many: The power of prayer in a circle holding hands; seeing the similarities within the group instead of the religions differences (reinforcing the addicts attitude that AA isn't necessary); even to the point of forgoing coffee after or before a meeting or other group activities that help reduce the feeling of being an outsider, and bolster one's self esteem; learning from others just how to LIVE sober. So many dubs haven't a clue as to that one.