In these first days of Advent, the time in which we prepare to welcome once again the birth of Jesus into our lives and into our world, we ponder the word hope.   I invite to pause for a few moments each day, and ask yourself, What is hope? Here are some of my thoughts.   Hope is wanting something to happen. It is a deep desire, something that you want so badly. But it is more than that. Hope is trust that somehow things will work out. It is believing that good things can & will come. It is knowing...

Would Jesus recognize Christianity in North America as his Way? I doubt it.  The more I study the gospels and read the letters of the New Testament, the more I believe that Jesus would be puzzled, if not actually dumbfounded, frustrated, and angered, by some (much) of the presentation of Christianity in North America, since settlers, explorers, and invading armies first arrived.    Jesus said, “Do not judge”  (Matthew 7:1) and yet I hear so much judgement in the voices of people who call themselves Christian.  I truly believe that Jesus would have sat at table with those of the LBGTQ...

Why do I follow the Way of Jesus?  It is a question that each of us who embrace Christianity need to ask ourselves.  And then, for those of us raising children, why do we want to introduce our children to the Way of Jesus and raise them within this faith?   Up until a few decades ago, we weren’t faced with this question.  We lived in a society that was mostly Christian.  On a census form, people typically aligned themselves with one of the Christian denominations, even if they didn’t go to church very often.  Now people feel free to choose...

To Your Excellency, the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Please don’t make fun of my faith. I cheered you on the day you were installed as Governor General of Canada. I celebrated that you acknowledged the Indigenous Peoples and spoke in one of their languages. I agree with you that climate change is mostly human caused and that we must quickly become the solution. I also believe in God, a God who is the creator of the universe. To me, it takes just as much faith, maybe even more, to believe that the universe started with a random fluctuation. I believe in...

Playing with emotions! That’s what we’ve been doing the past few weeks.   I’ve been talking about playing with our emotions because we need them.  There are not good and bad emotions.  Throw out whatever you’ve been taught about green (go for it), yellow (caution), and red (don’t do it) for emotions.  Emotions must move!  That is why they are called e-motions.  They are about a movement that is happening within, in response to what we are experiencing around us.   Our senses take in information.  Our brain processes that information and sends signals to the body, to keep us safe...

Time to play with separation & fears!   The world is a scary place, whether you are two years old looking up and out at all these things that are bigger than you and out of your control….. or you are 52 or 72 or 92 listening to the news or facing challenges among friends and family.   It does not take much to stir up fear, alarm and anxiety in our lives.  We get a daily dose and somehow have to find our way through.  Having 24/7 news accessible online does nothing to help our alarm levels.  So what are we...

Time to play with sadness!  We’ve all done it.  Boo, hoo, hoo! we have playfully cried. And we might even end up giggling at the end of our playful sadness.   Real tears, real sadness, is essential to our well-being.  Tears are not a sign of weakness.  Tears are the movement of very real emotions deep within.  If we don’t cry, or at least feel sadness to the point where we can feel tears at the edges of our eyes, then the emotions get stuck and harm us, and sometimes others, in the long run.  But tears can be hard to...

Time to play with joy!  Does that sound odd to you!   Isn’t joy natural?  Why would we need to play with joy? However, when I walk down the sidewalk, the smiling faces stand out because there are so few of them and so many sad and stressed faces.  I was flicking through photos of the models wearing a particular designer’s fall line of clothing and what I noticed is that none of them were smiling or happy.  They all had very stern faces.  It seems to be the “in” thing in the fashion industry. How sad!   And then there...

Time to play with alarm!  Hard to imagine, yet we do it all the time.   Hide & seek.  Peek-a-boo.  There are all sorts of games where we play with what alarms, with our fears.  “Daddy, be the monster and chase me!”  “Mommy, pretend you’re a ghost!”  All of these are ways that we and our children play with our fears and build some resilience and skills for facing them.   My husband had a wonderful rhyme he used with our boys when they were little (think 2-3 years).  They would sit on his knee.  He would tightly hold their hands...

Time to play with frustration!  What’s your reaction to that statement!   First of all, let me say – there are no such things as bad emotions.  Emotions are neutral and they all need to be expressed.  There are lots of statements out there about good emotions and bad emotions, and programs that encourage children to express the “good” emotions but supress the “bad” emotions – but there is no truth to that. Of course, we like emotions such as happiness better and have a bigger problem with frustration or its evolution into anger.  But all emotions need to be expressed! ...