NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

 “…the present moment is the only moment we ever have in which to be alive” ~ from   “Coming to our Senses”   by Jon Kabat-Zinn This seems on first reading to be a no-brainer, doesn't it? I’m sure most of us would nod our heads ‘Yes’ in agreement without hardly a second thought! So the questions I find myself asking are, “ Why then do I spend so much time focusing on that which is   not   the here and now?   Why is it so difficult to actually be fully in the present? The triumphs and joys of times past, and yes, the failures too, are always there ready to occupy our thoughts. The ‘what ifs’; the ‘why didn't I’; and the ‘if only I had thought of that’; are always there ready to engage our attention.  We can live and re-live our memories of the past a thousand different times with a thousand different scenarios, and a thousand different outcomes . . .but nothing really changes. They are what they are! OR instead, we look a...

This winter has certainly delivered a ‘marshmallow world’ to southern Ontario as well as most of the rest of Canada and the northern United States - and I must admit there is nothing exceptional in that! Yet this song of the holiday season has irritated me for a number of years.  And I have been vocal about this irritation, so vocal that a friend sent me a YouTube link  to Dean Martin singing ‘A Marshmallow World’ this Christmas. Did that make me smile? Yes!   [ Click here to hear the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BOu3IMMzFc  ] BUT, it also has had me thinking these past weeks about just why I find that particular song so irritating. Dean Martin isn't now, and has never been, a particularly favorite singer of mine. But what is it that sets this song apart from his others. One thing I have come to realize these past few years is that when something or someone really irritates me in some way, there is usually a reaso...

‘You see I happen to believe that there is so much more to life that Christianity.’ Quoted anonymously This statement in a blog grabbed my attention and sent me scurrying to the online Oxford dictionary for a definition of Christianity. Christianity: the religion based on the person and teachings of Jesus Christ, or its beliefs and practices [emphasis mine] Let’s look at the second meaning first. Certainly if you consider the beliefs and practice as exemplified by the institutional church, and indeed by most of those who call themselves Christians, I would agree with this quotation that there is much more to life. Things like equality of opportunity, empowerment to follow your individual ministry, joy of living, love of the other, inclusivity regardless of gender, race, education, or sexual orientation, the freedom to think and question, abundance of resources; all of these and more are missing in varying degrees in the currently accepted practice of institutionalized ...

T rue Confession time ...let me start today with a true story, one that actually happened!  I am an introvert and I hate  being front and center especially when I have no control over what happens. So just imagine how I felt one wintry Friday a few years ago when I was asked if I would take part in the sermon the following Sunday!  It would be simple, I was assured. And after all I would have 48 hours to mull over my answers to the three questions! The  scariest part was the thought " What if in the process of the dialogue, I get asked a different question, one I haven't previously  thought  out my answer for?”  I made a conscious decision to trust, to trust that even if a new question was asked, the necessary support would be there for me. And so I was able to move out of my comfort zone... So what is trust? The Oxford dictionary definition of ‘trust’ is the ‘firm belief in the reliability, truth or ability ...

There is a time for everything a season for every purpose under heaven a season to be born and a season to die, a season to plant and a season to harvest; And God’s gift to us is to eat and drink and find fulfillment in our work. Ecclesiastes 3:1, 2, 13 At the beginning of a new year, we look ahead wondering what it might hold for us. With the writer of Ecclesiastes, we query what lies ahead for us: promise or pain; fulfillment or frustration, life or death. And where, we wonder, where will God be in all of this? Will we find the  fulfillment   promised in our daily lives? Our lives are full of many births and many deaths, each one as miraculous or difficult as the last.  This coming year will be no different.   The important thing for me in these words is that there is no dying without rebirth, no planting without harvesting, no tearing without mending, no hurting without dancing. No matter what the coming year holds for us, we will experience ...