My kids still occasionally request “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” at bedtime, so I thought of the soothing song of simple, distant wonder as I opened Holy Night and Little Star. This book’s Little Star, however, is not distant and her emotions are not simple; she’s a very relatable astronomical object. Mitali Perkins and Khoa Le’s…
“Mom, Aunt Mel – Look!” Everyone came pouring into the living room. Two teens proudly held out a small package. I could see something dun-coloured under the plastic, but it was unrecognizable. “Guess what?” they said happily. “We shrink wrapped a hot-dog bun!” “Stop putting random things through that,” Jeff groused, without any real anger…
As a Christian scientist, there are questions I do not have answers to and often do not understand. A source of many questions is the scale of the universe in contrast to the particulars of our faith. The universe is large and old, reflective of the power of our God, but our faith hangs on…
I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but my mother has changed a lot. She used to be one of my favorite people. Now all she does is ask questions, try to micromanage my life, and embarrass me just by being who she is. Of course, she still throws in an occasional hug, which –…
In 1941, the poet W. H. Auden started writing a Christmas oratorio to be set to music by Benjamin Britten. He imagined it as a set of modern-day monologues voicing the perspectives of characters in the Christmas story and he shifted the setting to represent the world around him. The mood of the poem was…
June 2014. My team of five arrived in Beit Sahour. We met our homestay family, Orthodox Christian Palestinians who lived just outside of Bethlehem. Our days were spent volunteering at a local organization that offered respite for families with special needs children. Our evenings and weekends were ours to explore and learn. There was so…
I woke up one morning last week convinced that it was Friday. As the coffee surged through my veins, I opened my iPad and noticed the date said Saturday. Several minutes passed before I admitted to myself that I was wrong. Somehow, I was a whole day behind! Although extreme, this is not an isolated…
As daylight dwindled, I sat alone. The crickets chirped their lullaby. The campfire flickered gently. I savoured the peaceful evening and happily pondered the lively afternoon spent with our daughter Stephanie and her girls (ages 9, 7 and 5). September in Ontario had started off with a late summer heatwave and our grandkids enthusiastically churned…
In my home, fall brings birthday cake and bread shaped like dragons. The cake is a Blitzen Cake for my dad, made with his mother’s recipe and it is always spectacular: double layered meringue and sponge with a gorgeous custard filling. Sometimes, I put coconut on top, sometimes toasted almonds. This year, I had an…
When a random intruder left newlywed Jessica Ziakin-Cook with a severed femoral artery and nearly took her life, some people at church said it was a lesson to increase her dependence on God. But Jessica drew theological conclusions from a deeper well. I met Jessica Ziakin-Cook at the University of Victoria last December, and she…
The sky was blue and so was the mood in the drop-in center. Everyone kind of moped, here on Main Street, in this place where the homeless and vulnerable gather daily for cheap meals and free conversation. I came in as I always do, Wednesdays at lunch, to sit at the long rectangular table and…
A lead crystal vase graces the shelf of our old hutch. I hold it, feeling its familiar weightiness. My finger traces the fluted rim until it catches on a jagged point and I’m transported back to my childhood. I was very young, but the event is engraved as deeply in my memory as the design…
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