This is a picture I saw in my newsfeed today.
And also this
I haven’t really wanted to write about what’s going on over in the USA because I needed to believe that it’s all happening “over there” and not “over here”. Why should we take such interest in what happens overseas? Continue reading How do we practice being long-suffering in a polarised world?
When I was a minister in a church I used to think up of a new message to impart to my hungry congregation each week. Each week I would sit at my desk in my home and wait for inspiration. What I wrote had to be fresh, it had to be new, it needed to be a word for the season. What was going on in the life of the congregation? It took time to discern this. Each proclamation had to be renewing which would massage the doubts and anxieties of the faithfully gathered with the supernatural balm of the Spirit. The Spirit spoke through my new words each weak and brought comfort to my congregation. Continue reading The spiritual discipline of repetition in an age of surface-skimming
I am prone to feelings of loneliness.
It’s not because I’m single, I’m quick to add I realise. I used to feel this way even when I had that “special someone” in my life. I feel it when I am alone and also when I am surrounded by people. I don’t feel it all of the time but only sometimes. I often wonder if others experience these feelings but it seems like it’s not something that we talk about very much today. Yet it is, we are told, what many people feel as a part of their daily existence. Continue reading The Shame of Loneliness
“There are so many lovely options for girls your age but there are no nice clothes anywhere for women my age.”
As a young girl I can remember my mother saying this to me frequently when we went shopping. We went shopping a lot. It’s how we bonded. We would go searching through the various shops trying to find bargains, then for a little while we would separate and try to find treasures in stores that were our personal favourites. After, we would meet up for lunch and I would tell her about the many things I saw that I wanted to buy. My mother however, would usually quietly say that she didn’t particularly find anything she liked for herself. I remember not thinking about it too much or sometimes I’d wonder to myself if she was being a little too picky.
Continue reading Thoughts on Middle Age at the Skinny Jeans Section of a Department Store
One of the comments I am hearing that keeps being used about the debate yesterday between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, is the remark about the “icy stares” that Clinton continually gave Trump as he prattled on and on about things which he obviously knew very little about.
Today I went for a jog and the wind was not my friend.
The usually quiet bay where I run was heaving and swaying rhythmically. The water instead of looking like some kind of blue, smooth gelatine wobbling delicately as it usually does, transformed into a wrinkly, ripped sheet of paper that someone was trying to smooth out unsuccessfully. Occasionally, the water looked more like a long, mountainous landscape as the white peaks of foam undulated up and down in obedience to the strong gale which often came suddenly. Continue reading From Cumulus To Cirrus Today
Sometimes when horrible things happen, truth and kindness emerge.
I’ve moved into an inner city community recently and so I’ve been doing a bit of exploring. So far I’ve been simultaneously appalled and moved several times. Appalled by some of the violence, wrong headed attitudes, smells, congestion, danger present and yet also moved by the sense of community, compassion, quirkiness, confidence and zest for life that oozes from the streets, cafes, parks and other public places.
My local shopping centre embodies the tension I feel. Continue reading Moving into “Murder Mall”; An Advent Reflection
Have you ever heard someone say something like, ‘That guy is a machine’? Or maybe you have heard something like, ‘She just powers on like a machine’. When people say such things about others I’m often left feeling a little confused. It surprised me to realise the other day that those words are meant as a compliment. In our fast-paced, driven and ambitious society, being called a machine is a way to flatter someone who is striving for results, success and prominence. And our culture is all about results, success and prominence.
