A small life lesson

Never trust a thrift store jigsaw puzzle.

2026 Word of the Year

Last year's Word of the Year, teamwork, turned out to be an excellent choice, as I experienced many opportunities to "high five" people in my life for so many things we accomplished together. Had I moodled pictures of all those moments, there would have been twice as many Simple Moodlings in 2025, and images of working with many different people, doing everything from making music, to moving a ministry, to planting/harvesting a garden, to bagging 200 lunches when no one else would... and lots more teamwork moments!

The first occurrence of this year's Word of the Year was on January 5th during my online morning meditation group. Our leader, William, posted a few paragraphs from author Richard Wagamese's book, What Comes From Spirit, and the final line hit me immediately:

I remain in slack jawed wonder at the richness in my life.

I repeated those words to the online community when the virtual floor was opened for sharing, saying how much I agreed with that sentiment. But it wasn't until my spiritual director, Ruth, (who also attends the online group) asked me about whether I had chosen my word of the year yet (she knows about my Words of the Year) that I realized WONDER is definitely the word for 2026.

Wonder at our beautiful skyline
made me take this picture 
during a dog walk!

Wonder has been following me around for weeks. I felt a sense of wonder (the noun) throughout Advent and the Christmas season at so many things: frost on a window pane, the softness of our puppy's fur, the beauty of fresh snowfall, the way my and other people's minds work, how friendships grow or wane, the thought of tulip bulbs under all that snow preparing to bloom in May, the miracle of love, the financial generosity of Sanctuary of Peace friends, and how people came together (Synagogue, Lutheran Church and chain restaurant) to make our Christmas celebration something special!

And I wonder (the verb): How our societies worldwide have become so divided, and how we can bring unity back. How we've forgotten that everything is connected, and how we can remember that what hurts or heals you also impacts me. How we rely on all of earth's ecosystems to work together and how we can work together to protect them. How truth can return to guide our world in all things, even when it might be easier to accept lies...

And I see so many wonderfull (adjective --misspelling intentional) things going on around me: Small churches bringing bag lunches and winterwear to homeless people in need. Neighbours pushing neighbours' stuck cars out of snow ruts (due to more snow falling in a week than our city usually plows in three winter months). My little cousin's hockey team advancing toward the u18 Girls' International semi-final (tomorrow) -- Go Haley, and Team Canada! The ever-increasing  daylight as we move further into this new year... and I could go on...

Do you have your own Word of the Year? For me, slack jawed wonder abounds. Perhaps this year I'll remember to post pictures more often. May wonder follow you around in 2026!

Prayer and Tai chi combined... my New Year's Resolution

New Year's Day slipped by almost two weeks ago without any sort of acknowledgement here on Simple Moodlings. I've missed at least the last three New Year's days that way, as my moodling habits have decreased quite a bit since 2019. I'll blame covid for that, ha! It changed so many things in our lives, didn't it? I know I've become less of a social butterfly and more a homebody, and really, that's okay. We all do what works best for us, and if we're lucky enough to have extra energy, for others in our circle of care, in our community.

Anyway, I usually pick a Word of the Year and skip the New Year's Resolutions, but this year, I'm doing both. I'll let you know my Word of the Year soon, I promise, but today I'm sharing my New Year's Resolution, part of which I did all through Advent, and the other part of which my achy body told me to start on January 1st.

I've been doing a fair bit of spiritual exercise with an online morning meditation group, and my quiet mornings with them and a candle in the winter darkness also inspired me to return to Pray As You Go, an online podcast created by the Jesuits in the UK, most episodes usually around a dozen minutes long. Their Advent reflections were the perfect thing for me in December

I first learned the Taoist form of Tai chi back in 2008, and have been doing it on and off ever since, enough that the 108 moves are part of my body's muscle memory. Which means that I can almost do it on autopilot. But last year, my first as pastoral associate for Sanctuary of Peace and having Remi-pup join our family, I kind of forgot about any kind of exercise other than walking and gardening. Tai chi happened only sporadically.

So after a very cold Christmas season with less exercise than usual, I realized that it might be a good plan to combine my daily Pray As You Go session with some Tai chi. Some years ago there was some sort of kerfuffel about "Christian Yoga" in fundamentalist church groups who felt that any kind of Eastern influence creeping into personal spiritual practice was a problem. But for me, the combination of gentle movement and gentle spiritual/Ignatian meditation are a perfect way to keep both body and soul in shape. They almost match in terms of how many minutes they take, and if I get mixed up in my movements, oh well, I can always back up and try again. 

So far this year, I've managed to do "my combo" every day except Sundays, when I have to be downtown early for Sanctuary of Peace service, and it's been a good thing for combatting the stiffness and achiness that seems to be my morning companion most days lately. 

Do you have a combined physical/spiritual practice in your life? How do you keep body and soul moving together in these deep winter days? I hope that you are well, and finding your own best practices to keep up your spirits in these early days of 2026. I'd love to hear about them if you're inclined to leave a comment or send an email to simplemoodler @gmail.com.

Monday Music Appreciation #68: Breathe In by Peter Mayer

There are always lots of songs floating through my head, and this one made an appearance again this morning. I've loved the music of Peter Mayer since my friend Charleen sent me Holy Now, which I suspect I've shared on Simple Moodlings at least a half dozen times. 

This one, Breathe In, is a perfect morning stretch/meditation. See if you don't agree.

Email subscribers who don't see the video can click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ0horvBHWc 

Enjoy!

Sunday Reflection: You are God's Beloved

 Today's reflection is brought to you by

Matthew 3:13-17 and Psalm 29.

Happy New Year, friends! It's been a busy end to the old year and start to the new, and my moodlings have been mostly in my head of late, but a few will escape the old noggin in the next few days with any luck. 

I thought I'd start 2026 with my first reflection of the year offered to the Sanctuary of Peace community this morning. It's a timeless message, one that we need to hear over and over as children of God.

* * * * * * *

Today's gospel is a story I can really relate to. We see John the Baptist, the prophet who prepared people to meet Jesus by baptizing them and inviting them to repent and change their hearts, the guy who said he was unfit to untie Jesus’s sandals. And John tells Jesus exactly what he thinks. Basically, “You’re God, and I’m supposed to baptize you? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?” 

John does what I often do. That is, he second-guesses God’s plan even when Jesus, who is God, tells him what’s up. And I admit that when hard or unexpected things happen in my life, I second-guess Creator a lot, too. There have been many moments when I’ve turned to God and said, “Are you sure about this? Because I’m not sure I like your plan, and I think my idea might be better.” 

For example: when I was in High School, I came down with a weird flu bug that wouldn’t leave. Eventually, I saw my doctor and he told me that my pancreas had stopped working, that I had insulin-dependent diabetes, and that I would be injecting insulin for the rest of my life unless a cure comes. No big deal, right? Wrong.

My initial reaction was disbelief. And then I said to Creator, “Why me? What on earth are you thinking? I’m seventeen and suddenly have a chronic disease? Now it’s needles every day, check my blood sugars all the time, stop drinking Coca Cola, my favourite, and be careful about exercise?” 

My second-guessing went on for about eight years in that I was always trying to cut a different deal with Creator (“Please God, make someone invent a cure!”) or I had long periods where I tried to pretend that I didn’t have diabetes and ended up eating stuff that was bad for me, gaining 30 pounds, and feeling really rotten. Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, all that stuff. 

But eventually I came to accept diabetes as part of God’s plan for me. I got used to living and eating differently. I had to be extra careful about my health when I was pregnant, sometimes taking eight shots a day, and I needed good diabetic control to raise my kids. No low blood sugars allowed when you're driving babies around!

Years later, I can see that my diabetes is actually a gift to me -- and my family. I had to cook healthy meals, and my kids are mostly healthy eaters because of it. I learned to balance diet, exercise, and rest in a good way. And I know I could have ended up with bigger health issues than diabetes. Creator’s plan for me hasn’t been so bad after all. 

Creator’s plan for all of us is good, though it might not seem like it sometimes because we can’t see God’s Big Picture. Maybe some troublesome thing that happens today will change our lives for the better somewhere down the road. 

Did you notice the words of Psalm 29? To recap: Creator will bless all people with peace. She is power and love. His compassion breaks oppression and injustice. They want us to dance in freedom and exuberance like the young bulls of Mount Hebron, kicking up our heels. God wants to strike love into our hearts and strip away our untrue selves so we can live in in truth and peace! 

And how do we know these things? In today’s reading, Jesus experiences Creator’s love firsthand for all of us. As Jesus comes up out of the water, he hears God say words that God says to each one of us: “This is my child, my beloved one. I am delighted with you.” 

Creator is delighted with all their children, all of us in this space, all of us in this world. God made each one of us to reflect their face to everyone else. Even when our lives are complicated and messy, when there’s bad news, when we can’t understand why or how people can be so cruel to each other, why wars are raging, where justice is hiding, God is always in us, and delighting in us, and hoping that we notice their delight and start living like we feel that we are beloved. 

So let’s rest in our beloved-ness for a few moments right now. 

Take in a deep breath, and let it out slowly and silently… 

Sit straight but relaxed if you can, and just follow your breathing for a moment… 

Think about your heart beating gently in your chest, the heart fashioned by Creator that keeps you alive… 

Think about your hands and how they serve you… 

Think about your feet and how they carry you… 

Your body is a gift from Creator, and you are wonderfully made… 

Imagine Creator speaking these words to you: 

You are my child, my beloved one. I am delighted by you… 

I hold you in the palm of my hand. You are my child… 

I am always with you. You are my beloved one… 

I will strengthen you and help you. I am delighted by you… 

You are my child, my beloved one. I am delighted by you… 

What do you want to say to God in silent response? … Take as much time as you need...

I invite you to bring your awareness back to this room and to open your eyes. 

We give you thanks, 

Creator, 

for making each of us your child. 

Thank you for calling us your beloved. 

Thank you for the way you delight in us. 

Remind us, 

when life is difficult or when we forget, 

that you are there for us, 

that you are our strength and our help. 

Teach us to be open to your love, 

and to love as you do. 

Help us to live always knowing that we are your special children, 

to receive your love and delight, 

and to share it with those around us. 

+Amen.