Beauty Grows in Broken Places
Beauty grows in broken Places Take the rose for example: furled petals releasing scent, swaying in the breeze. Opening to stunning perfection, delicate beauty. I angle my camera to shut out the weeds. I don’t focus on the ragged earth littered with dead leaves. No. I...
Lookin’ for Joy
I knew after writing about wailing last week I wanted to balance it a bit with a dose of joy. Although the feedback from my post on wailing has taught me to listen, it was a post I was compelled to write and felt deeply about. Thank you for your feedback! What I...
When Women Wail
I'm sorry. Or am I? Because in the world I've grown up in, women don't wail. Yes, there might be tears, but appropriately, and often in private. Especially as a woman of faith, a preacher's kid, I've been taught to be proper, to reign in my emotions, to reflect...
Can I Catch my Breath – While Others can’t Breathe?
Can I catch my breath – while others can’t breathe? Another poem/prose blog, sharing my heart in these troubled times. For many it has been a horrific week, as we watch the heartache of the news, the anger, the uprising, the riots, the deep grief. Doing nothing is...
A fresh deposit of tears
I’m grateful for tears. They can cleanse the soul and provide relief for a weary heart They can be a release for built up emotions, a vent. Those who find it hard to cry might have other ways of release. Todays prose is about tears and a response to what many of us...
Rise Up: Poems for a Pandemic #3
Rise Up. Two words that have stuck with me this week, also inspired by the remembrance of Ascension Day which was this last Thursday. I receive much comfort that while Jesus ascended to heaven after resurrection, he promises to never leave us. The comfort of God's...
Would you like a rhubarb muffin?
One of the sad consequences of the Pandemic we are living in is that we can't share food together in the way we used to. This last week I've been making rhubarb muffins. I found a fantastic recipe! And it would be my desire to invite you over, have a glass of cold...
Prickly
Prickly. The title of the poem I wrote last week and was reluctant to publish. Who wants to hear about my prickly side? I’d rather share about positivity, peace, productivity, The poem, actually, is a prayer, an honest confession. As I thought about it, I was...
#Words of Faith to Live By
Instagram was a learning curve for me, I found myself there about a year ago, trying to figure it out. That little number sign in front of all my words smooshed together was very confusing. Basically (and I know there are others that will explain it better) the # is...
Poems for a Pandemic
I took this picture in the hills above our home this week. The landscape comes alive this time of year, with grasses, balsam root flowers, and earth coming-alive smells. Spring is not the same this year. And yet it is. Even as we have become vigilant against unseen...
Flattening the Curve of Anxiety- a Silent Epidemic
The question is how do we flatten the curve of anxiety? We talk about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), but this is no post-traumatic, we are living in a pro-longed stress period, experienced collectively, and yet very individually. We all respond differently, according to our personalities, our past history, and our support systems which also affect us.
Planting Seeds of Hope
There is a heaviness to Easter Saturday. I feel the parallels this year as we are in the mire of this pandemic with no real end in sight. We don’t know when we will see the light. There is uncertainty. Uneasiness. I'm wondering if on that first Saturday, the...
Singing Hosannas in times of Suffering
Gratitude is a pathway to joy.
Connected Though Apart
I was thinking back some decades ago when we experienced some hard good-byes with family who were overseas for years at a time. I remember the long hugs, the tearful so-longs, the promises of letters to be written and sent. Even in the 80's and 90's most of our...
Paralysed by grief
There is this old poem that brought me a lot of comfort when I was grieving after my 1st husband died in 1995. It speaks of losing things and falling apart. Here is the poem: I seem to be falling apart. My attention span can be measured in seconds, My patience in...
All Will Be Well
Julian of Norwich lived in the 1300’s and has become known for this phrase, this way of thinking: All will be well. I read a biography about this unusual woman some months ago and was taken with her story. She knew great suffering. She lived through the Black Plague...
Preparing without Panic (recipes included!)
It's always good to be prepared. Last week we offered a training session on Advance Care Planning for all our Spiritual Care Volunteers at our hospital. This is often the paperwork we avoid talking about or doing. Because it involves the hard conversations about our...
Following the Splotches
There's been some hard stuff out there lately. I could write about it, and I probably will, but not today. For today, I was following the splotches I had created. Bright happy splotches of yellow, red and blue, creating backgrounds for watercolour pictures. It is...
Roadrunner Lessons
It was a beautiful Arizona day if unusually cold. The sky was a deep blue and the sun was shining. I was excited for we had found a new place to walk and explore the desert in the Usery Mountain State Park near Phoenix. (highly recommended if you are in that area!)....
Messengers with Wings
Last week I found myself sitting in a dental chair after weeks of discomfort, looking for solutions. I was nervous, even though my dentist and his team are kind. I have a sensitive mouth and a challenging history that creates anxiety in that place. As I settled,...
Practicing Peace
I’m aware that peace has been a recurring theme in my blogs lately. It is my word for this year and I keep coming back to it, asking God to show me how to live in peace. I’ve come to see peace as an action word, and this morning thought about how do I practice peace...
A New Dose of Courage
This blog on courage is a favourite one of mine to share and was posted on my other blog page on September 7 2011. It was definitely one I wanted to move to my web page. Because it tells the story of how God gave me the gift of courage in a particularly difficult...
Peace as a Weapon
Peace as a weapon. Now that is an oxymoron. Coming from a pacifist, which I am, it is almost funny. Anxiety is a troublesome neighbour, one I’d like to banish from the corners of my mind. I know I’m not alone, and indeed there is great sadness at recent tragedies in...
My Broken Angel
I wrote the following blog nine years ago, in 2011. It was in the months following my heart attack, a challenging time for me. My mom was still with us, and my dear friend Dene was an inspiration to me. Here are my thoughts which still ring true today There is a...
Peace in Action
We've been experiencing frigid temperatures, as has much of western Canada this week. Cold is the topic of conversations everywhere, and winter blues abound. Unless of course, you are one who loves winter, and doesn't mind the cold, and there are some who embrace...
Living the Word for 2020
The new year dawned. We are almost a week into the new decade. If I were to be honest (and I will be), it has been a hard week. I've had to toss my idealism aside, face my own shortcomings, live with depression that comes from SAD and a combination of heart-ache. ...
Be Thou My Vision
We sang this song on Sunday. The words have always moved me; poetic, prophetic. As we embark on a new year, a new decade, it seems appropriate to end the year with these words: Be Thou my Vision. For I believe that God alone knows our tomorrows, and I am grateful...
The Sigh After Christmas
You’ve seen those announcements bent on annoying or amusing you... 300 days until Christmas, or only 51 more weeks... There is no other celebration I know with so much buildup, anticipation, and expectation. It IS a joyous time where we focus on family and love for...
Receiving Love
It is a question I often ask of those I meet who are sad, or have mental health problems or disease. "Do you love yourself?" It is a question I need to ask myself now and then. Because self-loathing is more common than we would like to think in this age of...
The gift of Joy
I am grateful for Joy. It arrives unexpectedly in the loveliest of moments casting light into the dark shadows. In this season of darkness we look for joy, we look for light. Christmas can bring that gift with feelings of goodwill abounding, and even the news we...
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