Aging – is it a blessing or a burden? A long life is considered a gift; the longer one lives, the more they experience. And yet, paradoxically, society poses it as a problem to fix. Get older, pop culture says, but don’t let the years show on your face. Grow, but don’t allow the hardships…
For me to say today that I am “indigenous” will raise a lot of eyebrows, particularly in Canada. That word has become very useful for correctly describing people who are native to North America – or, as the Oxford Dictionary puts it – inhabitants from before the arrival of colonists. It is now more than…
The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” – Romans 8:15 He used to carry me. My father with the scratchy beard and the loud laugh, the kind that threw his head way back. He would carry me as he walked barefoot in Africa. I would…
During the closing prayer at my friend’s memorial a few months ago, the officiating pastor included a request for “the courage to grieve.” This phrase still hovered in my mind as I opened Jason Dykstra’s memoir about the stillborn death of his third child, Ezra. What does courageous grief look like when a much-loved son…
Around the time Brenda and I put our Michigan house up for sale, six months into the pandemic, we spent some time discussing what we wanted our life in Toronto to look like. As we now prepare to move for a second time within Toronto – our landlord wants us out of our rental by…
I have a sweet memory of driving with Ralph from our home in the city to his brother’s place, the family farm. It was a late summer evening, with the sun about an hour from setting. I remember it being the kind of warm temperature that begs for windows to be rolled down. We could smell…
Safe Families Canada works to fill the gaps in child and family support services across Canada. Families who access support from Safe Families Canada may be dealing with financial instability (due to unemployment or the rising cost of living), housing insecurity, substance abuse, incarceration or illness. Motivated by grace, volunteers come alongside families in crisis…
We live in a friendly neighbourhood where everyone knows you – by your dog’s name. It took us more years than we are willing to admit to learn Cooper and Gracie’s owner’s name (Steve), and we talk with Jersey’s owners (names not yet known) through the fence often. For over nine years, we were Luna’s…
They’ve been dangling for weeks. If it was up to me, I’d have been on them in January, but the boss says it is better to keep ladder jobs until the end of winter. No point in slipping when you don’t have to. Still, all those forgotten strings of lights in the park are looking…
Editor’s note: Fern Boldt wrote this tribute to her husband and read it to him on the occasion of their 58th wedding anniversary. Peter is experiencing poor health and memory loss, and lives in a long term care home where Fern visits every day. For their anniversary dinner in December, Fern brought ribs and read…
We first met when we were both first-year university students. Carina was a fine arts major at the new campus of Redeemer College, and I was an engineering major at a nearby university. I had travelled to Redeemer to visit some friends and I can still picture the spot in the hallway where our eyes…
Like the Duggar family I grew up without a TV. Yet their lives, more than mine, have been deeply shaped by television. Over two million people watched each episode of 19 and Counting, a reality show that ran from 2008 to 2015 featuring Jim Bob, Michelle and their very large homeschooling Baptist family. Despite the…
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