Everyday Ways to Practice Communication
Communication at home can be hard. This struggle has been a hot topic among parents throughout the pandemic, and with a new school year and new routines looming, tensions and old habits often sneak back in. My organization conducted a survey of parents which showed us that communication at home is harder now than ever – and in many cases not happening at all. After months of sharing the same space with family (and for a good while, only family), teens generally turned inward and struggled to find anything to talk about. Grief and loss felt heavy, and otherwise tiny frustrations mounted. When we see our students pulling away and…
Hope in the Wilderness
[A Guest Post by Cassandra Shepherd]Guest Post by Cassandra Shepherd It’s not often all of our plans are so thoroughly thwarted, our freedom so collectively restrained, our daily life so completely disrupted on a global scale… We are in a communal time of massive transition because of the pandemic. Nothing in the world is ‘normal’ anymore. People’s daily routines have had to change. There is a level of unprecedented anxiety on a global scale, and so much that seemed predictable is now very uncertain. There is so much that is painful, and there is a profound sense of loss. It has been more than 5 weeks since we last saw my husband Richard:…
How Should Christians Behave During a Pandemic?
In a time of global unrest and uncertainty, Christians everywhere are seeking wisdom on how to respond to a pandemic. We know there’s trouble in this world. As a community of Jesus-followers, we have this unique opportunity to model how we can be joyful in the face of such trying times. John writes it this way: be of good cheer. Why? Because we know the One who overcomes even the worst crises in this world (John 16:33). Hard times are to be expected. But how should we, as Christians, respond to mass sickness and uncertainty? In the 16th century, Protestant church father Martin Luther gave this answer on how he…
Commingle
[A Guest Post by Eunice and Ka-Neng Au]Note: April 2020 update at the bottom of this post. Growing up in a densely-populated county in New Jersey, Eunice learned to separate her recyclables from the weekly trash (rubbish). Aluminum, glass, cardboard, newsprint, mailers, and eventually plastics, too, would be placed curbside in their own containers. As the local district reviewed best practices for recycling, we eventually reduced the need to sort and streamlined the process to just two containers. Living in Singapore, we’ve come to see that all recyclables are combined into one commingled bin where the individual distinctions of each item no longer mattered. With the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus (2019-NCOV) coinciding with the traditions…
Choosing Calm in a Season of Sheltering
[A Guest Post by Nancy Reece]I went for a walk yesterday and was singing Raise A Hallelujah at the top of my lungs. The words of the song – I raise a hallelujah, with everything inside of me; I raise a hallelujah, I will watch the darkness flee, I raise a hallelujah, fear you lost your hold on me – brought peace and calm in the middle of this season of fear and panic in our world. CHOOSING PRAISE OVER FEAR About two weeks ago, I wasn’t exactly experiencing calm. On Thursday March 12th, when we were aware of the virus and a couple of days before things went crazy at the grocery stores, I came home and told my husband…
