I have this theory: that our society tends to view being academic and being artistic as mutually exclusive. I didn’t see the latter in myself because everyone else saw the former. Basically, I was good at school, so I was put in the academic category. And while I did well in art class and on creative writing assignments, I never won any prizes and didn’t … Continue reading Embracing my inner artist
One my favourite simple pleasures in life is rediscovering songs from the 90s – and in particular, the one-hit wonders. My most recent nostalgia hit is Pinch Me by the Barenaked Ladies. Remember them? Yeah!
Ten years ago to the day, I posted this brief status update to Facebook (in the third person – I guess that’s how we did it back in the olden days).
Intriguing! So … what was my youth all about again? Continue reading Pinch yourself and hit send
What does string theory have to do with the Resurrection? What’s the difference between wanderlust and “wonderlust” (is that even a thing?)? Why do adverb particles matter?
This Easter I really went down the rabbit hole …
String theory and the Resurrection
I was listening to a podcast the other day, an interview with a physicist who was explaining the holographic principle. Based on string theory, one of the concepts is that our lived reality is two-dimensional data expressed in three dimensions. In other words, reality is a hologram.
It made me think about dimensions in general. If two dimensions can express three, and it’s generally accepted that we inhabit four dimensions (the fourth being time), what would 5D* projection mean? Because I’m convinced the material world isn’t all there is to existence.
As a person of faith, I believe we exist in more than four dimensions. But for most people – Christians, followers of other faiths and those of no faith alike – our active engagement in the fifth is limited.
This Easter I was reminded that the Resurrection invites us to walk beyond the four dimensions and live a bigger, richer reality. Continue reading Made to wonder: string theory and the resurrection
I was never much of a dreamer as a kid. Forget being a princess, pilot, pop star or police officer. All I ever aspired to was to be an accountant – a short degree with strong job prospects.*
I’m not even kidding. To tell you the truth, I was an unambitious and cynical child.
The funny thing is that somewhere along the way into adulthood, I did start dreaming.
I dreamed of changing the world. Perhaps it was born of a desire to prove that my unambitious and cynical younger self was so, so wrong.
Changing the world hardly seemed a dream to me, though. In my early-to-mid-twenties, I started to appreciate that changing the world is within reach of each of us, that the smallest gesture can be a part of a bigger picture. That it doesn’t have to be dramatic or headline-worthy to be, well, worthy. To count as real change.
And since it was something I was already in the process of doing, it never seemed a far off reality. It never seemed far away enough to be called a dream.
So whaddya know – it seems I’ve been living the dream.
But there are also dreams I’m yet to live. These are not things I hope I manage to do before I die, nor will I feel unfulfilled if they don’t happen. Far from being a bucket list, this is a set of six longings that speak to the core of who I am.
I’m sharing them with you here, to encourage you to discover (if you haven’t already) and reflect on your own dreams. Continue reading The deepest dreams
In the days before I converted to Mac, defragging my PC was a standard part of my life. I would order things in neat folders and subfolders, name files consistently and accurately then conscientiously delete them when they were superseded by newer versions. Alas, my PC would still take its sweet, sweet time with even basic tasks. It would limp along on the best of days and … Continue reading Defrag this
Draw me out of stormy water
My first breath is marked by grace
Make me someone else’s daughter
Heart that doesn’t match its face
There is a blueprint to my heart
Chase it up my family tree
Peel away this royal mask
Disarmed, now trace me back to Eve
Fire within and it consumes me
Lift my hand, in for the kill
Fire before my eyes I see
Instantly the world falls still
Pack my bags and leave the road
Suddenly I’m homeward bound
Might and mercy that was showed
A destiny, a new hope found
Even pain it had a purpose
Rejection taught me who to trust
Didn’t see it at the time
The diamonds being formed from dust
Here before this multitude
Seas will part and nations fall
Incongruent heart refreshed, renewed
Tuned in to the celestial call Continue reading Out of Egypt
Lately I’ve felt the unspoken question of why I decided to go back to South America but not as a missionary (that is, not as a big ‘M’ conventional Missionary). This post is an attempt to explain this and, at the same time, share with you some of the thinking behind why I went to Ecuador then, and why I’m going to Bolivia now. Why I went to … Continue reading Ecuador vs Bolivia, and losing the Missionary label
This post was inspired by some irony. Irony about the fact that after blogging A novel metaphor for life, when I felt I’d achieved a breakthrough working on my long-awaited debut novel and was convinced it was symbolic of breakthrough in the way I see and approach my life, I haven’t really progressed at all on the aforementioned novel. I did, however, realise, that one … Continue reading A novel metaphor for life 2
I am writing a novel. That is, I have been writing a novel for the last fourteen years. Two and a half years ago, I finally gave up on modifying the prototype I had from when I was twelve or thirteen. Realising that poetry was still my best form of expression to date, because I could say everything I wanted to say and actually complete … Continue reading A novel metaphor for life
Canberra, my love Today you are stunning warm even when you’re cold cool even with your sunny disposition and I get lost in your blue sky searching for the me in you and the you that’s reflected somewhere in my heart but I think it is buried deep and yet however far beneath the surface you lie, motionless, asleep even if I were blindfolded I’d … Continue reading two reflections on being home again
