• Home
  • Blog
  • Radio
  • Books
  • Gallery
  • Poetry
    • Precious, the words spoken in love
    • Plankectomy- the removal of one’s own plank…
    • The Heart of the Cross
    • Complicated Jesus
    • A Boat for a Heart all at Sea- a tribute to our NHS heroes
    • Ascending
    • Jump On (for those who carry us through)
    • A Home For Hope
    • Good Friday- A Mother’s Call
    • Hands When This Is Over
    • The Stars, Man
    • This Old Cross
    • The Sound That God Makes
    • Angels
    • Mothers’ Day
    • London, Aye
    • Walked, Weary
    • Lockdown
    • Christ Emerges in the Mess
  • Prayers and Reflections
    • Prayers
      • For the Gift of Humilty
      • One Minute Litany Prayer
      • Love Is All
      • God, We Need You Now!
      • Hello… God? I’m losing my grip.
      • A Conversation With God
      • Night prayer- as easy as 1,2,3!
      • Meditation: for the stormy times.
      • For those under attack
      • A day without death
      • When there are no words, God already knows
      • Three Deep Breaths
      • For those of us who are tired
      • Trinity Prayer and Meditation
      • Hello… God? I’ve done it again- The Fall and The Rise
      • Morning Prayer- God in all things
      • Hello, God? I’m felling adrift…
      • Our Active Friend, The Spirit
      • Praise you God in the mountain
      • A Spirit Prayer
      • Yo, God!
      • Hello… God? I Have Doubts
      • Heat, light, fire
      • A Way To Pray Each Day
      • Difficulty praying? Easy, take a deep breath.
      • Dear God
      • Praying Through These Days of Lockdown
      • Prayer for Healing
      • Prayer for Stormy Times
      • Meditation for an End to Worry
      • Gratitude Prayer
    • Reflections
      • A leopard can’t change its spots? I’ll take your word for it…
      • Uncomfortable, disruptive friends
      • Deep Breath- First Steps
      • What is your mission?
      • For a Rose in the Midst of the Struggle.
      • Losing Control
      • The Power of Gentleness and Love
      • For those who speak words of hope
      • Thank you, God, for my life.
      • At Jeremiah’s crossroads facing Peter’s dilemma- what do we do now?
      • Unity in Difference
      • For a firm hand on my shoulder.
      • Pentecost- We Are Never Alone
      • G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E
      • The Wise Cherry Tree- a story of life and death and life again
      • This old cross is all I have to hold to
      • As the sun ascends, the Son ascends also
      • Coming Home
      • Matthias- Who??
      • Bit by bit- we are doing this
      • For Those Who Feel Scuffed Up
      • What’s in a name?
      • A Life In Pictures
      • Encounter- Pathway to Transformation
      • Palm Sunday Without The Cheering Crowds
      • This
      • Finding God In The Balance
      • Into Your Hands Lord We Commend Our…
      • The Forgotten Woman Who Bankrolled the Ministry of Jesus
    • The Wisdom of Cody the Dog
      • Prayer for a blessed week of love and joy
      • Resting
      • Worried
      • Brexit Blues
      • Give Yourself a Break
  • Facilitation, Retreats & Speaking
  • Hello, God? I’m felling adrift…

Gym For The Soul

A Workout For Your Spirit

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Radio
  • Books
  • Gallery
  • Poetry
    • Precious, the words spoken in love
    • Plankectomy- the removal of one’s own plank…
    • The Heart of the Cross
    • Complicated Jesus
    • A Boat for a Heart all at Sea- a tribute to our NHS heroes
    • Ascending
    • Jump On (for those who carry us through)
    • A Home For Hope
    • Good Friday- A Mother’s Call
    • Hands When This Is Over
    • The Stars, Man
    • This Old Cross
    • The Sound That God Makes
    • Angels
    • Mothers’ Day
    • London, Aye
    • Walked, Weary
    • Lockdown
    • Christ Emerges in the Mess
  • Prayers and Reflections
    • Prayers
      • For the Gift of Humilty
      • One Minute Litany Prayer
      • Love Is All
      • God, We Need You Now!
      • Hello… God? I’m losing my grip.
      • A Conversation With God
      • Night prayer- as easy as 1,2,3!
      • Meditation: for the stormy times.
      • For those under attack
      • A day without death
      • When there are no words, God already knows
      • Three Deep Breaths
      • For those of us who are tired
      • Trinity Prayer and Meditation
      • Hello… God? I’ve done it again- The Fall and The Rise
      • Morning Prayer- God in all things
      • Hello, God? I’m felling adrift…
      • Our Active Friend, The Spirit
      • Praise you God in the mountain
      • A Spirit Prayer
      • Yo, God!
      • Hello… God? I Have Doubts
      • Heat, light, fire
      • A Way To Pray Each Day
      • Difficulty praying? Easy, take a deep breath.
      • Dear God
      • Praying Through These Days of Lockdown
      • Prayer for Healing
      • Prayer for Stormy Times
      • Meditation for an End to Worry
      • Gratitude Prayer
    • Reflections
      • A leopard can’t change its spots? I’ll take your word for it…
      • Uncomfortable, disruptive friends
      • Deep Breath- First Steps
      • What is your mission?
      • For a Rose in the Midst of the Struggle.
      • Losing Control
      • The Power of Gentleness and Love
      • For those who speak words of hope
      • Thank you, God, for my life.
      • At Jeremiah’s crossroads facing Peter’s dilemma- what do we do now?
      • Unity in Difference
      • For a firm hand on my shoulder.
      • Pentecost- We Are Never Alone
      • G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E
      • The Wise Cherry Tree- a story of life and death and life again
      • This old cross is all I have to hold to
      • As the sun ascends, the Son ascends also
      • Coming Home
      • Matthias- Who??
      • Bit by bit- we are doing this
      • For Those Who Feel Scuffed Up
      • What’s in a name?
      • A Life In Pictures
      • Encounter- Pathway to Transformation
      • Palm Sunday Without The Cheering Crowds
      • This
      • Finding God In The Balance
      • Into Your Hands Lord We Commend Our…
      • The Forgotten Woman Who Bankrolled the Ministry of Jesus
    • The Wisdom of Cody the Dog
      • Prayer for a blessed week of love and joy
      • Resting
      • Worried
      • Brexit Blues
      • Give Yourself a Break
  • Facilitation, Retreats & Speaking
  • Hello, God? I’m felling adrift…

Follow Gym For the Soul

Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Follow by Email
Instagram

Menu

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Radio
  • Books
  • Gallery
  • Poetry
    • Precious, the words spoken in love
    • Plankectomy- the removal of one’s own plank…
    • The Heart of the Cross
    • Complicated Jesus
    • A Boat for a Heart all at Sea- a tribute to our NHS heroes
    • Ascending
    • Jump On (for those who carry us through)
    • A Home For Hope
    • Good Friday- A Mother’s Call
    • Hands When This Is Over
    • The Stars, Man
    • This Old Cross
    • The Sound That God Makes
    • Angels
    • Mothers’ Day
    • London, Aye
    • Walked, Weary
    • Lockdown
    • Christ Emerges in the Mess
  • Prayers and Reflections
    • Prayers
      • For the Gift of Humilty
      • One Minute Litany Prayer
      • Love Is All
      • God, We Need You Now!
      • Hello… God? I’m losing my grip.
      • A Conversation With God
      • Night prayer- as easy as 1,2,3!
      • Meditation: for the stormy times.
      • For those under attack
      • A day without death
      • When there are no words, God already knows
      • Three Deep Breaths
      • For those of us who are tired
      • Trinity Prayer and Meditation
      • Hello… God? I’ve done it again- The Fall and The Rise
      • Morning Prayer- God in all things
      • Hello, God? I’m felling adrift…
      • Our Active Friend, The Spirit
      • Praise you God in the mountain
      • A Spirit Prayer
      • Yo, God!
      • Hello… God? I Have Doubts
      • Heat, light, fire
      • A Way To Pray Each Day
      • Difficulty praying? Easy, take a deep breath.
      • Dear God
      • Praying Through These Days of Lockdown
      • Prayer for Healing
      • Prayer for Stormy Times
      • Meditation for an End to Worry
      • Gratitude Prayer
    • Reflections
      • A leopard can’t change its spots? I’ll take your word for it…
      • Uncomfortable, disruptive friends
      • Deep Breath- First Steps
      • What is your mission?
      • For a Rose in the Midst of the Struggle.
      • Losing Control
      • The Power of Gentleness and Love
      • For those who speak words of hope
      • Thank you, God, for my life.
      • At Jeremiah’s crossroads facing Peter’s dilemma- what do we do now?
      • Unity in Difference
      • For a firm hand on my shoulder.
      • Pentecost- We Are Never Alone
      • G-R-A-T-I-T-U-D-E
      • The Wise Cherry Tree- a story of life and death and life again
      • This old cross is all I have to hold to
      • As the sun ascends, the Son ascends also
      • Coming Home
      • Matthias- Who??
      • Bit by bit- we are doing this
      • For Those Who Feel Scuffed Up
      • What’s in a name?
      • A Life In Pictures
      • Encounter- Pathway to Transformation
      • Palm Sunday Without The Cheering Crowds
      • This
      • Finding God In The Balance
      • Into Your Hands Lord We Commend Our…
      • The Forgotten Woman Who Bankrolled the Ministry of Jesus
    • The Wisdom of Cody the Dog
      • Prayer for a blessed week of love and joy
      • Resting
      • Worried
      • Brexit Blues
      • Give Yourself a Break
  • Facilitation, Retreats & Speaking
  • Hello, God? I’m felling adrift…
  • Blog,  Prayer and Reflections

    A leopard can’t change its spots? I’ll take your word for it…

    March 13, 2021 /

    I was thinking this morning of how so many of the stock phases we use in our daily lives are actually self-limiting and disempowering of ourselves and others. Try these ten out for starters and see if you can hear yourself saying them. If so, try out the correction underneath each phrase. The journey to empowering ourselves begins by catching how we can disempower ourselves and pushing against it. I hope this helps.   A leopard can’t change its spots: There aren’t too many leopards here in deepest, darkest West Belfast but I’ll take your word for it… when it comes to leopards that is. People are not leopards. People…

    read more
    Jim Deeds 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    For a firm hand on my shoulder.

    June 4, 2020

    Every Day We Are On The Road To Emmaus- Keep Going

    April 28, 2020

    Precious, the words spoken in love

    September 17, 2020
  • Blog,  Prayer and Reflections

    Uncomfortable, disruptive friends

    March 7, 2021 /

    The same darn thing would happen every day at this time of the year. She would be woken by the clang of sharp clawed feet bouncing on her bedroom’s flat roof. The bounce was accompanied by a sharp ‘kaw-kaw’ cutting through the blissful silence of sleep. For the last ten years, a succession of magpies had chosen her house as a venue for an early morning rendezvous. Just as the sun came up (stupid o’clock, she called it) the black and white winged warriors would congregate and bounce back and forth across her roof, ‘kaw-kaw-ing’ with the enthusiasm of school children on a day trip to the zoo. The result…

    read more
    Jim Deeds 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    For the Gift of Humilty

    October 14, 2020

    What’s in a name?

    April 21, 2020

    Losing Control

    August 20, 2020
  • Blog,  Prayer and Reflections

    Deep Breath- First Steps

    February 4, 2021 /

    9 years ago today I woke up with a hangover. It wasn’t from drinking too much red wine or beer. It was from having been in hospital for surgery the day before. I’d had half my meniscus (cartilage) removed from my right knee having torn it 8 months earlier. You can read more about my surgery here: https://gymforthesoul.life/prayer-and-reflections/losing-control/   For now I want to say something about the day after the surgery. So back to the hangover. My head was sore, my tummy was sore, my leg was sore. I was sore. My leg was swollen and still had the arrow marked on it from the day before to ensure…

    read more
    Jim Deeds 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    A leopard can’t change its spots? I’ll take your word for it…

    March 13, 2021

    A prayer for the weird and the wonderful

    June 24, 2020

    Precious, the words spoken in love

    September 17, 2020
  • Blog,  Pray,  Prayer and Reflections

    For the Gift of Humilty

    October 14, 2020 /

      These small holding crosses are at the start of an epic journey. After starting out as trees, they have found their way into my workshop here in West Belfast, Northern Ireland. But from tree to workshop is not the end of their journey. They are about to undertake a journey of transformation and then another journey of great distance as they make their way to Florida in the Unites States of America.       As they sit now, they are barely roughed out shapes bearing the saw marks of their recent shaping. They have sharp edges and uneven surfaces. In many ways they are rugged, and that brings…

    read more
    Jim Deeds 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    The Old Story- Irish in Manhattan

    April 15, 2020

    Welcome!

    March 29, 2020

    Three paradoxes and challenges Jesus gives us

    July 15, 2020
  • Blog,  Prayer and Reflections

    What is your mission?

    October 9, 2020 /

    I invite you to reflect on the topic of SERVICE, WORTHINESS and DISCERNMENT. And to do so using the words of St John Henry Newman as our guide. “God has created me to do Him some definite service.” As we go on the journey of life may we know that we are all called to serve others in love. Service of others is not easy. It is, however, a core element of the Christian life to which all of us are called. Let us pray then that we who are called may grow into a ministry of service for all in God’s name and in whatever way God calls us…

    read more
    Jim Deeds 1 Comment

    You May Also Like

    Praying in an Emergency

    April 17, 2020

    Hands When This Is Over

    April 3, 2020

    For the ones who carry so much

    May 12, 2020
  • Blog,  Pray,  Prayer and Reflections

    One Minute Litany Prayer

    October 3, 2020 /

    One Minute Litany Prayer   For all that I have, gratitude. Hear our cries, Lord.   For those who are sick and dying, healing. Hear our cries, Lord.   For those undergoing treatment or awaiting results, positive outcomes. Hear our cries, Lord.   For those struggling with addictions, fortitude. Hear our cries, Lord.   For those who are lonely, friendship. Hear our cries, Lord.   For those who find themselves in foreign lands and discriminated against, compassion. Hear our cries, Lord.   For those caught up in war, peace. Hear our cries, Lord.   For those wrestling with a difficult decision, wisdom. Hear our cries, Lord.   For those in…

    read more
    Jim Deeds 2 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Love Is All

    September 6, 2020

    A Spirit Prayer

    May 11, 2020

    The Heart of the Cross

    June 19, 2020
  • Blog,  Prayer and Reflections,  Prayers

    For a Rose in the Midst of the Struggle.

    October 1, 2020 /

    There once was a path. It went on for a very long distance indeed. The path was steep. It was bumpy and sharp. Those who climbed the steep path rarely even looked up to see where they were. They never saw the grass or the trees or the animals who lived there in the park. The path and its difficulties stole all of this from the travellers. Truth be told, that path was one that feet struggled to travel on. But there, in the midst of the struggle- not separate from it, but in the midst of it- lay a little, delicate rose. Its petals were thin and wonderfully shaped.…

    read more
    Jim Deeds 1 Comment

    You May Also Like

    Hello… God? I’ve done it again- The Fall and The Rise

    June 3, 2020

    At Jeremiah’s crossroads facing Peter’s dilemma- what do we do now?

    June 12, 2020

    Heat, light, fire

    April 18, 2020
  • Blog,  Poem,  Poetry

    Precious, the words spoken in love

    September 17, 2020 /

    She spoke your name today. Precious, the words spoken in love. They were conceived in her heart, Grew within, And were given life through her lips.   The new born words fell, Gently from her mouth, In all but silent compassion.   Fell, but did not hit the floor. Words spoken in love never do; They are too precious, As you are precious.   And so the new born words of your name, Floated above the ground. And as she looked upon them, She saw her prayer for you.   They floated, For a second only, Before, Rising,   High, High, High,   Carried by love, To love itself; Into…

    read more
    Jim Deeds 3 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Hello… God? I Have Doubts

    April 19, 2020

    World Refugee Day 2020- I Don’t Care?

    June 20, 2020

    The Doggy Man

    April 14, 2020
  • Blog,  Poem

    Plankectomy- the removal of one’s own plank…

    September 11, 2020 /

    Inspired by Luke 6:39-42…   Planks are curious things Huge, yet invisible To the self-delusional Hypocritical Eye of… well all of us At some time Or another   Planks that bind to us And blind us To our own wee foibles (Big ones too) And yet provide us With a line to aim Down, straight To the perceived faults of others Splinters, of course   But…   Planks Seem to have A kind of magnificatory Ability To lead us to the sin Of diagnosis (Seeing the bad And need to change) Of those with splinters Without first, gently And honestly Performing surgery On ourselves A ‘plankectomy’ if you will  …

    read more
    Jim Deeds 1 Comment

    You May Also Like

    Hello, God? I’m feeling adrift…

    May 20, 2020

    For the ones we miss

    May 29, 2020

    A Boat for a Heart all at Sea- a tribute to our NHS heroes

    May 21, 2020
  • Blog,  Prayer and Reflections,  Prayers

    Love Is All

    September 6, 2020 /

    I invite you to find a quiet spot and allow yourself a little time to relax, meditate, pray.   Begin by sitting still, focusing on your breathing. Don’t try to change your breathing; just notice that you ARE breathing. Acknowledge each breath as a sign of the life you have within you.   Now, speak silently or aloud as you breathe.   On the in breath: “I am loved” On the out breath: “I am love”   Repeat this for a minute or so. As you do, my invitation is for you to know that God loves you. Whatever your relationship with God (or even if you don’t really think…

    read more
    Jim Deeds 1 Comment

    You May Also Like

    Matthias- Who??

    May 14, 2020

    Hello… God? I Have Doubts

    April 19, 2020

    A Matter of Mercy…

    July 17, 2020
 Older Posts

Follow Gym For the Soul

Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Follow by Email
Instagram

Recent Posts

  • A leopard can’t change its spots? I’ll take your word for it…
  • Uncomfortable, disruptive friends
  • Deep Breath- First Steps
  • For the Gift of Humilty
  • What is your mission?

Recent Comments

  • Theresa on What is your mission?
  • Theresa on For a Rose in the Midst of the Struggle.
  • Theresa on One Minute Litany Prayer
  • Carole on One Minute Litany Prayer
  • La Flynn on World Refugee Day 2020- I Don’t Care?

Archives

Categories

Copyright © Jim Deeds 2020

Ashe Theme by WP Royal.