When I was younger, the days between Christmas and New Year felt almost sacred. A quiet pause in the calendar where I would reflect on what had been and carefully map out what was to come. Lists were written, intentions set, dreams neatly arranged as though life itself might follow my handwriting. I still return…
Tag: hope
In the Stillness
Sometimes the traditions we cherish most become even more meaningful in the harder years. There are nights when exhaustion settles into my bones, yet sleep refuses to come. And it always seems to happen at the most inconvenient times, like now, when Christmas is just around the corner. A season that sparkles once a year,…
The Beauty of Advent
Some things are received more deeply when we make room for them slowly. There is something about Advent that reaches into me very deeply. Every year, when it comes around again, I feel it before I can properly explain it. It comes quietly, like a soft stillness settling over my soul, like the first pale…
Ink from Pain
Healing does not erase the wound; it changes the way we look at the world. I recently joined a writing group that meets at a local church, something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. It’s become one of my favourite outings now, this gathering of minds and hearts, of stories and pens. There’s…
We Call on Him
Remembering to turn to God in gratitude is just as important as turning to Him in hardship. For a number of years, Peter and I shared a quiet ritual with our dear friends, Stephen and his late wife Wendy. We each brought a song — something that spoke to us in that season of life…
Hold on. Hope wins.
The moments that become our favourite stories are often the ones we never planned. On Easter Sunday, there’s a hush in the air that always moves me. The dawn feels quiet and golden, as though the whole world is rising together into the same soft light. Shadows stretch long across the ground, the birds seem…
Cancer Diagnosis
A date that once marked our deepest fear can become a day to honour the life we have lived since. I’m the kind of person who remembers anniversaries, not only the joyful ones, but the ones that mark life’s deep turning points. I’ve always been this way. Certain days settle into my bones and refuse…
This World Needs Christmas
Goodwill can begin with one person willing to reach across a divide. There are some stories that don’t fade with time. They settle into the soul and stay there. One of them is the Christmas of 1914. I often try to picture it. Young men far from home, shivering in muddy trenches along the Western…
Hurricane Milton
Compassion begins when another person’s suffering matters to us. As I sit on a park bench in my local park in Melbourne, the sun rests warmly on my shoulders, and everything feels calm. The sky stretches above me in a wide, endless blue. Birds sing from the treetops, and nearby I hear the bright, carefree…
My Pink Ribbon Day
Even after the darkest night, morning comes again. After weeks of helping care for my elderly parents, I have been carrying a kind of tiredness that sinks right down into your bones. And yet, this morning, in the very early hours, I found myself wide awake. Melbourne was putting on quite a show outside, with…
