Better or wiser?
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Better or wiser?

It isn’t a surprise that Baby Boomers, my generation, are redefining aging. We have the numbers, influence and ethos to challenge the status quo and make change. Many of the changes will make conditions better for seniors; but better in this context, may not mean wiser. Some advocacy for the aging leaves me with nagging…

Coming of age
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Coming of age

Time is relative, the adage goes.  My husband Ralph is a school principal. He recently celebrated a significant birthday, and the younger students invariably wanted to guess his age. “Twelve?” one student guessed. Another, more confident student proclaimed, “Fifty-twelve!” A third, “Ninety-three.” To twist another adage: Age is in the eye of the beholder. Louise Aronson,…

Picture Perfect
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Picture Perfect

Last summer, we went beach hunting with the grandparents on the west coast of Vancouver Island. We were looking for a specific spot where we’d taken a photo when our eldest was almost four. For years the photograph has hung on our wall, a reminder of one beautiful corner of the world we love and…

As time goes by
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As time goes by

What’s the best part of ageing? For me it’s the memories. Even better than seniors’ discounts, I have a storehouse of treasured memories to draw from. They often come to mind when I least expect them, and just as I need them most. It happened again the other night as I lay shivering under the…

Does life really get better with age?

Does life really get better with age?

I recently turned 30 and felt good about it. But when pushed to answer “why,” I realized that my reasoning had a lot to do with the career and personal milestones I’d managed to check off in the past decade . . . even though I knew it shouldn’t. Franciscan priest Richard Rohr would say…

Better with Age?

Better with Age?

Here we go again! Last month we columnists were told that the Christmas issue was themed “In Praise of Broken Things”; a crazy topic until I thought about it some more. This month it’s “Better with Age.” Better with age? Tell that to my creaky 76-year-old knees, or my wife’s 23-year-old Honda Civic. New and…

A blessing under the bitter notes

A blessing under the bitter notes

I’ve always loved the final scene in the 2012 Batman flick The Dark Knight Rises. Gotham City is saved, and the camera takes us to a small café in Florence, on the banks of the Arno. Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred is on a much-needed holiday, sipping a glass of Fernet Branca, when, surprisingly, he meets…

A joyful melancholy
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A joyful melancholy

As I’m writing, it’s late summer – the season for Niagara peaches, sweet corn and sun ripened tomatoes. Nature’s bounty flows from the generous hand of its Creator. Turning the calendar to August used to send a shiver of delight through my childish heart. After all, there were still weeks of summer vacation left, back-to-school…

A doctrine of time
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A doctrine of time

As mentioned in my previous column, the Canons of Dort (1619) were formulated as an orthodox Calvinist response to purported errors in theology taught by Jacob Arminius (1560 – 1609). Although the theological differences between Arminians and Calvinists were (and are) complicated, they fundamentally hinge on different claims about the sovereignty of God. Calvinists claim…

Making Time
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Making Time

In September 2017, I wrote about the concept of time as it relates to disability and discipleship, seen through the lens of disability theologian John Swinton’s book Becoming Friends of Time: Disability, Timefullness and Gentle Discipleship. It’s four years later, and I am still recommending that book (and that column).  Add to the book list…

When time stands still
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When time stands still

Another hour ticks by. I am still not sleeping. I wander dark hallways and watch my children sleep. I sigh and groan and toss and turn. Every hour of lost sleep is a subtraction from the energy and fortitude I will need for the following day. I am not a stranger to insomnia. Over the…

A home beyond time
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A home beyond time

It’s pretty hard to pass up a good homecoming story, and the writer Paul Kingsnorth unspooled a particularly potent one in the pages of the Roman Catholic magazine First Things recently. Kingsnorth tells the story of his conversion to Christianity over the past year – he was baptized in the freezing waters of the River…