Doona Wars

I blame myself. I should have stopped it earlier. Nipped it in the bud before it came to this. But it was summer and it didn’t seem to matter. We were free and easy. But now, with overnight temperatures falling to single digits, the clandestine stealing of the...

The memories in things

One of our church members, who I’ll call Jim, has been having a clean out. Not just your run of the mill, “We have too much stuff” type of cleanout, but the one you have when you sell up the family farm and there is 90 years of “This will be useful one-day” and “This...

A Doodling God

I’ve just completed seven weeks of being the primary carer for my wife as she recovered from major surgery. It has all been about giving the body time to heal. It’s been a surprisingly easy journey for me although I’ve had to broaden my range of cooking skills....

Creating Joy – Practicing Gratitude

Happiness happens, but joy abides. If happiness is the weather, then joy is the climate. An easy way to remember the difference is that climate is what you expect and the weather is what you get, and likewise optimism and joy are what we expect and life is what...

The communion of coffee

The other day I was at a regular meeting we have for Uniting Church ministers to reflect on aspects of ethical practice. It varies between being a boring bureaucratic requirement and valuable discipline. As part of the morning activities we pair up with someone and...