We cannot expect our younger selves to have understood what only a lifetime of experience could teach us. I have often heard it said that the year before a major milestone becomes a reflective one. A year of looking backwards as much as forwards. Of taking stock. Of remembering who you were, who you became,…
Tag: reflection
Wrapped in Wonder
Perhaps one of the loveliest things about genuine happiness is that it makes us want others to experience it too. A few weeks ago, Peter and I stepped out of the crisp Southern Highlands cold and into the historic Robertson Hotel, a place filled with grand Gatsby-era elegance. What waited inside made me stop and…
Hidden Nests
Perhaps the quieter seasons of life reveal things that its busiest seasons never allowed us to see. When I walk my neighbourhood in midwinter, I notice how the season has stripped so many of the trees bare. The leaves are gone now, revealing what had been hidden all along: abandoned bird nests sitting quietly among…
Books and Roses
Perhaps the most meaningful way to challenge expectations is not through rebellion, but through the quiet confidence of being ourselves. My two grandfathers were not exactly what you would call traditional men, even though both were born in the early 1900s. My father’s father loved cooking, baking, and cleaning. Domestic work came naturally to him….
Dad’s Fading Light
Perhaps some of life’s deepest sorrows are inseparable from its greatest blessings. My 90-year-old dad is slowly slipping away. Day by day, the flame in his candle grows dimmer, and I find myself watching that light with a grief too deep for words. There is something so heartbreaking about loving someone for your whole life…
He is Risen!
Sometimes we arrive at a moment believing we know how the story ends, only to discover that God has written something we never imagined. There is an ancient and joyous Paschal greeting that has echoed across generations of Christians, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ and proclaiming hope, new life, and the victory of life…
A Year of Reflection
Sometimes it takes standing between generations to truly recognise where we are in our own journey. I have often found myself thinking of life in chapters of ten years. There is something about a decade that seems to give the passing of time a shape. Ten years can sound like such a long stretch when…
The Gift of Lament
Sometimes the greatest kindness is allowing someone to be honest about their pain without asking them to find the bright side. I was probably in my early twenties when I read a book that would leave a lasting impression on me. I cannot remember every detail of what was written, but one thought settled so…
Writing While Able
Sometimes we forget that what we are able to do today is itself a gift worth treasuring. For some years now, I have lived with a certain kind of uncertainty, the kind that quietly follows me even on ordinary days. It is not always loud. Sometimes it sits far enough in the background that I…
Water over Rock
We are constantly being shaped by what we repeatedly allow into our hearts and minds, often without realising it. There are some places that seem to hold a feeling for you, so that when you return, something in you settles before you even understand why. Marysville is like that for me. This summer, on one…
