Spirituality on jochum.dev

My Prayer

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I pray the same thing every day.

Please show me my mistakes. I am sorry for them. Thank you for your blessing, Lord.

May your will be mine. Your law, mine. And I want to help you put it into practice.

This is a habit that becomes alignment. Renewed every morning.

Someone asked me: If his will stands above yours — do you doubt? No. I hope it overwrites mine. Completely. Piece by piece.

The Man Who Lost Everything and Received Twice as Much

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Once there was a man who was good. Blameless and upright, one who shunned evil. He was good the way a stone is still — from birth, without ever having chosen it.

Then the dark forces came. They took from him first what was outside: his possessions and the people he loved. Then they reached inward, toward his body and his sleep. They wanted to know whether goodness would hold when the ground was pulled from under it.

This Too Shall Pass

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I helped a family bury their dog. We accompanied him to his last breath. A dear, dear fighter — for those he loved. I read Psalm 23 to the family — so they could see: even this dark valley passes.

In the evening I thought: now I will do something good for myself. I went out to celebrate. Into bed at six in the morning, fell straight asleep. Up again at two in the afternoon. The day was depressive.

Birth Rate — God Allows Mistakes

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The birth rate is falling. Everyone talks about money and housing. That is true. Still, it does not get to the core.

The Core Is Fear

People are not having children because they can no longer imagine the future. Because they believe they must be perfect to be parents. Because one mistake today is enough to be disqualified. That is how it feels. It suffocates.

What I have learned as a person of faith: God forgives. God even wants us to make mistakes, so that we learn from them. That is not a weakness. That is the ground on which a person can live at all.

The Centre Lies in Duality

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Mania and depression. Day and night. Light and shadow.

For a long time I fought against one of the poles. I believed one was my enemy. I believed I had to choose.

Today I know better.

Freedom comes first. It is the first thing we receive — from God, from life, from what carries us. With it I decide every day how I live with both poles.

One choice: to lose oneself in one pole. To identify with it. To take it for the whole truth. To fight against the other.

Thinking Outside the Box as a Profession

Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I was never good at staying in the lane. My mind constantly draws connections that are simply not foreseen within the lane. Theology and geopolitics. Music and spirituality. Austrian narrowness and global thinking. This was often read as unreliability. As if “staying focused” were a synonym for “seeing less far.”

I grew up in a conservative culture. Austria maintains its forms. That has its value — continuity, depth, rootedness. But it also costs something: whoever thinks laterally pays for it. With isolation. With the feeling of never quite belonging.

At the Door — How Combat Mode Can Help as a First Responder

Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It was a hard day. Someone I love was transferred to a more intensive psychiatric ward. I was there. There was trust. That is enough to say.

The Scene

At a door. My hand. A sentence, quietly: “They will do you good.” Trust had found a way through the storm.

What I felt in that moment: love. Simple. Complete. Fear too, yes — but the courage was greater. And the courage came from the fear that someone would experience what I had to experience.

My Path to the Authentic Self

Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The person wants to be good. The compass sits in the heart.

The sensitive person especially. They do not want to hurt — and that is exactly what makes them small. They swallow, they adapt, they wait. And yet the opposite is true: whoever sets no boundaries is not authentic. They are merely polite.

Setting boundaries requires the shadow. Whoever knows only their light cannot say no — because the no comes from the dark part, the one that can also fight, that can also protect. Getting to know one’s own shadow and allowing it is not a defeat. It is the precondition for real boundaries. And for real authenticity.

Hosea and I

Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Today I ended the contact.

Not out of anger. Because it had to be — for her and her new partner, and for me.

It hurts. The time with her was beautiful.

Head and Heart

The head knows what it is doing. The heart loves unconditionally. Two different things entirely.

Three years of relationship. Three years of friendship after that.

And now: silence.

Hosea

Hosea married a woman who would betray him. He knew it. He did it anyway. Later he bought her back — fifteen pieces of silver and some barley.

My Current Belief About the Higher

Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It began with a question about Satan. But actually it was always something else.

Freedom

I believe in a God who wants real freedom. Not a simulation — but freedom built into creation itself, even when we use it against him.

For me, Satan is proof that this is meant seriously. Whoever can fall is truly free.

Imago Dei

Created in his image. That is not a goal — it is the starting point.