Biological pattern
I’ve now lived long enough to notice a biological pattern to life – if things go to script. GRAPHIC: leremy/iStockphoto The first part of life, your parents nurture you, hopefully helping you become a well-adjusted adult. Then you nurture your own children, hopefully realising just how important this is before they’ve left home. Then there […]
Grief
The greatest proof that we intrinsically need community is grief. Grief defies logic. We might live 1,000 kilometres from a loved one. Only talk to them once a month. PICTURE: Ben White/Unsplash When they pass away, your life may hardly change at all. Yet grief can then descend and obliterate your life. I know why […]
Music
When Steve Jobs released his MP3 player, did he realise that he was putting a time machine into our pocket? PICTURE: Yuriy T/iStockphoto When I listen to Pray for Rain’s self-titled ‘92 debut album, I’m taking back to my college dorm as a university student just trying to make my way in the world. When […]
Gordon Burley
Thirteen years ago, when I first suggested writing these life coaching spots for radio, there was one guy who stepped up to mentor and join me in this project. He wrote 10 of the first 50 spots and gave me valuable insights and wisdom for the task. Telecommunications towers in South Australia’s Outback. PICTURE: John […]
Don’t tell me what to do
Have you been in a work situation where the young whipper-snapper comes in, and they just can’t be told? Image posed by model. PICTURE: artursfoto/iStockphoto They have their ideas, and your years of experience basically means nothing? You can sum up their attitude with one phrase – “You can’t tell me what to do!” Doesn’t […]
Weird animals
If you study animals, humans really are odd. Our bodies and instincts mesh with the natural world, but our conscious thought, logic, morality, and love are bizarre. PICTURE: alice-photo/iStockphoto It’s like something, or someone, dropped a conscious soul into our fleshly bodies. We have all sorts of weird theories to explain this – alien seeding, […]
This Life: How would you describe true love?
US columnist CAROL ROUND looks at what the Bible says about what love really means…
Outsourcing care
We’ve in danger of outsourcing care in Australia. PICTURE: shironosov/iStockphoto Once in Australia there were few community services, charities and caring concerns. Families looked after their own. Neighbours called on each other. Communities rallied around a cause, and churches did the heavy lifting of charity. As we’ve got richer, we’re become specialised. We’ve developed nursing homes, […]
This Life: Bearing good fruit
SAMANTHA ELLEY writes about her hopes for her battered lemon tree – and how that relates to our own lives… Northern Rivers, New South Wales, Australia {captionwrapper} Samantha Elley’s lemon tree. PICTURE: Courtesy of Samantha Elley {/captionwrapper} Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. – Matthew 7:19 […]
Sight-Seeing: How to bridge the yawning divide between us
NILS VON KALM reflects on Jesus’ call for unity – even those you strongly disagree with… Melbourne, Australia “I am convinced that men hate each other because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they don’t communicate with each other, and […]