Well we are part way through the LENTEN season and my son was asking his children how they were going with their “giving up“ of a food or activity to help us deepen our relationship with God. We focus on extra prayers, fasting from food and certain activities and by giving to the poor. His 7-year-old son, Emmett, said it was going well but he was still deciding the best option. There were 3 things he was contemplating to do…… Oh, with a smile on her face, one of his Aunt’s suggested that sometimes we choose to take something extra on as a sacrifice like…. We all laughed at those…

Do you get news sometimes that rocks your core? Health news, financial news, family news….. Where the world that we live in seems to sway on its axis for a few seconds. Imagine how the two astronauts felt who were only going to be away for 8 days and found out they were not going home due to technical spacecraft problems.  Now they have been gone 286 days and hopefully on their way home soon. But they are also not just in another city, they are in a space station, millions of miles away. Well, I received some disappointing news which brought tears to my eyes for a few minutes.…

Are you the type of person that congratulates people when they have done well? Do you tell them when they have done a good job? Do you tell them how wonderful they are? And not just on their birthday. If only we could be like little children, who so often don’t hide their instant reactions. Who voice, without filters, what they are thinking but generally in a positive way. (If they speak with meanness, often they have seen this way of speaking somewhere…) We need to cultivate this positive, affirming manner in our families. I remember distinctly my Mum teaching me, “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say…

Ever forgotten something or someone. I have. Just the other day I forgot to go to an appointment. I had to reschedule. I forget to buy grocery items when I shop, and sometimes they are the important item why I went there! Like toilet paper or laundry powder!  So back in the car I go to get them.  The saying, “ I’d lose my head if it was not screwed on” is sometimes true.  Am I just forgetful or do I have too much on my plate? Only I can answer that.  I usually write a list of things to get, and at which shop.  I know of someone who…

Lately I find myself questioning my behaviour, my thoughts, my actions. I have been put into situations that are pushing my patience, my kindness, my attitudes. Let me explain. Normally I am a very patient person. But as I am getting older and just in the last month, I feel like I get agitated more by waiting, by people who don’t seem to know their job and by people who are just outright unkind. My hackles go up and I feel like retaliating. I went to buy my mother a present in a very well-known branded shop. The first counter I went to, after waiting fifteen minutes and finding no…