Marriage Maintenance and Enhancement

To say I’m a little bit passionate about helping couples find ways of staying married in a vital, life-giving way is like saying the pope is a little bit Catholic. Although of course there are times when it makes sense to end a marriage, no one sets out to have their marriage fail. And yet …

Getting the Walls and Windows Right

“What God has joined together, let no one come between” …with those words a good friend of mine completed the formal part of the vows for a couple dear to me. Those words were spoken at Pineridge Hollow near Winnipeg. The weather was perfect,with the sun shining brightly and yet it was comfortable.The grass was …

Mezmerizing Son, Beautiful Mom

There is little that is more beautiful than watching a son conquer, with the help of a mother’s love and support…and especially so, when the son awes us with something that, is in itself, beautiful. Inspiration: Conner has overcome significant challenges against all odds to do something that does him proud. That does a heart …

Creating Security

I was having trouble sleeping last night. And no, not because it was too unbearably hot-it had been a very warm day, but there was a slight breeze coming in the window that was gradually cooling the room. And no, not because the wedding I attended had me thinking about the beauty of love. I …

Leaning

I was out in my front yard this morning, pulling weeds and putting in a few late plants to fill in the holes that are left by some of the early bloomers. The lilies will bloom soon. I noticed this morning, in the early morning sun, how they are oriented: I had the camera straight …

Bitterness

Charlie was charming and funny when he was sober 
but if he had a glass of scotch in his hand you would 
soon hear the story of how his father ripped the pocket 
off a new shirt his sister had given him when 
the dad spotted a pack of cigarettes in it. 

Charlie left town …

In Da Press…

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned” Buddha   Rod Minaker, our resident anger expert was interviewed by Maureen Scurfield for an article published  in the “On 7” version of the Winnipeg Free Press on “Wrath”. …

Unexpected Inspiration

Inspiration can come at the strangest times in unexpected places. I was at Pita Pit yesterday to grab a Falafel pita (on whole wheat with spinach and hummus–yum!) to share. The pita maker was a tall, thin young woman in her late adolescence..hair was severly assymmetrical–brush cut on one side, and long on the other …

A Thought

“My lifetime achievement in my opinion is really the slow acquisition of the ability to be vulnerable and needy, and to be able to accept love as well as give.” William Shatner, TV and movie actor on accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Banff World Television Festival, June 2010. Shatner went on to add: …