Image by John Hain from Pixabay I finished 2024 with a column about Hope. My topic for this column, January 2025, is humility, the foundation stone of Hope. For the last month I’ve been reflecting on the thoughts of Canadian First Nations author, Richard Wagamese in his book, “One Drum: Stories and Ceremonies for a Planet.” Richard begins…
Image by Md Abdul Rashid from Pixabay In the church year, Advent begins the first week of December. We light the symbolic candle of hope. Hope is tough to hang on to in today’s world. The daily news is full of war, death, destruction, murder and hunger. The internet is teaching us that truth is expendable. It feels…
Flowers on a Stick Always I have thought of flowers on a stick as artificial, often made of silk. Real flowers come on stems with leaves. Orchids have taught me yet again that things are not always what they seem on the outside. Two years ago the first orchid entered our home as a…
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay There Is Hope! It’s Spring. Yay! Time to plant my flowers. I love gardening. In Dunsford, we had many big flower gardens. They were so beautiful. Of course, I was younger back then and full of energy and surrounded by little grandchildren who came to help dig and plant and water….
Good News Is Coming! On a church sign in Woodstock, Ontario, Tom and I saw the question: “Do you spend time with Facebook or with God’s book?” Tom immediately countered with “Go to Facebook for bad news and to God’s book for Good News.” My reply was, “Facebook will give…
Our Daily Bread magazine led me to reflect on Jesus’ words, “My sheep listen to my voice.” (John 10:27). The following are my thoughts. A Choice – Both Are Good. A Steady Diet – Which One? Many of us fill our homes with sound. The television or radio are turned on for the morning…
Does God Give Us Our Pain? Too often I have been told that this trouble, this illness, this grief, even Covid 19, is God’s gift to refine me into a better person. That makes me angry. Causing misery, pain, or hurt is not loving. Today I offer to you my understanding of who God is…
In one of last weeks’ reflections in the United Church’s Lenten study booklet, I was reminded of an important detail of the story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt. When the Pharaoh had totally turned against the Israelites, when death had travelled through the land killing the first born of everything, when they…