By Sara Pippus We walked, wandering down the winding smooth path through the shrubs and pines all bunched together in the riverside park. The muddy edges of the path gave way to patches of brown grasses and dogwood bush. It was that time when spring was just around the corner. You can smell spring for a long while before it arrives, and on this particularly warm March day, the air was full of promise. The river followed us along, still frozen on the surface, giving no indication that it agreed with the rest of the spring things. Strange how a…

By Natasha Coroluick Today, I am not a pillar of strength. I am weak, fragile, and on the verge of giving up. Today, the tears flow like a monsoon down my cheeks and I can’t keep up with wiping them away so I stop trying. Today, my heart aches and my mind shakes and my body quivers as I let go of all I’ve been holding onto trying to be strong. Today, I feel angry, bitter, guilty, sad, alone, grief, no joy, no love, no understanding. Today, I don’t feel God. Today, I am not willing to be understanding of…

By Tamara Tucker Milestones are amazing, aren’t they? They are the stuff of victory, hallelujahs, and satisfaction. Often they are met with elation and relief in equal measure. Milestones call for celebration! And they feel glorious when reached. Recall a milestone moment in your life. I bet that just the memory of it brings a wave of satisfaction to your heart and a smile to your lips. On one such day, I hit a milestone in a project that had literally taken years of my life. The final stretch leading up to that moment took every ounce of meagre courage…

By Victoria Utman Do any of these words resonate with you? Do they strike a chord? Do you know the meaning of these words? Have you heard them in a sentence before? Read them out loud. Reflect on how each one feels in your mouth, on your tongue, ringing in your ears. For me, withdraw smacks me upside the head and makes me pause. I’m not good at withdrawing. That doesn’t surprise anyone who knows me. I’m loud. I like being the centre of attention. I am always busy and on the go. Even the connotations, the underlying meanings, associated…

By Andrea Muirhead I have just turned forty. I don’t feel forty. Not sure what forty is supposed to feel like. I recently had a chiropractor tell me that I had some natural degeneration that is caused by growing older and an eye tech tell me that my prescription was the same, for now. I guess that is what forty feels like. Some of you are laughing at me because you’ve been there, done that, and you are feeling fine. Some of you can’t imagine what forty might feel like. I guess I’m in the middle of you all. I…

Jennifer Wallace When I first heard the song with the lyrics, “My eyes are dry, my prayers are cold, my heart is hard, my faith is old…” I was probably in grade 12 or my first year at Bible College. I was likely 18 or 19 years old.   The song by Keith Green was released in 1978 and had already been around for 16 or 17 years.   But the song was new to me and I connected to its message and sang it with enthusiasm. I was hardly old and didn’t have much reason to be hard and cold. Life…

Sue Bland Pablo Picasso said, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” I would say the same about “play”. All children have a natural ability to play – the question is – how do we keep the spirit of play alive in ourselves once we are adults?” Let me come clean. I am an amateur artist, and I love to create art with others. Art, for me, is a form of play, exploration, expression, sheer fun, and prayer. Weaving these passions together, I offer art PLAYshops – a variant of “workshops”…

By Katie Pippus I love words! I love learning new words! I love coming across new words as I’m reading and then trying to guess the definition before I look it up. I was attempting to look up a new word the other night and my phone auto-corrected the word I wanted and replaced it with “joy”. Without realizing what had happened, I hit search. joy: (noun, /joi/)  a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. “tears of joy” The definition was unremarkable. If I had been asked to define joy, my definition would have been similar to this. But what…