Viewpoints

A case for neighbourly love

I’m in the thick of it. I had my second child earlier this year and life is still in the process of reordering itself. The predictable schedule went out the window and is slowly settling back into something new and, well, busy. Finding time to keep up with everyday tasks—dishes, laundry, meal prep—is difficult. Babies change everything.

Being still together

The Mennonite Women Manitoba working group is composed of Evelyn Friesen, left, Kathy Giesbrecht, Elsie Wiebe, Ruth Epp and Jolanda Friesen. Missing was Mary Anne Arndt.

There is so much to be done. Extra demands at home and at work. More time with the family. Keeping up with an exercise program. Planning the next holiday. Time out with friends. Involvement in our children’s school and extra-curricular activities, and many more. The demands of life draw us into a myriad of activities demanding our time and energy.

Fifty shades of . . .

I mostly managed to ignore it the first time it came around. But now when I go to the movies, there are huge, impossible-to-miss posters blaring the news that a film has been made based on the book I tried to ignore. My entertainment dollars usually go toward activities that inspire and elevate humanity.

Faith vs. belief (Pt. 4)

When I first started hanging out with Mennonites in the 1990s, I noticed a lot of them talked more about the Sermon on the Mount than the cross. They seemed to have a different gospel than the one I was raised with. The gospel of my childhood was simple: Jesus died for my sins, and if I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour I was saved from everlasting hellfire.

Take on a demon

Whom are you battling? Can you picture them or it? Everyone is at war, some on numerous fronts. “Be kind,” wrote Philo of Alexandria. “Everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.”

This is an important point. To remember that every irritating person is human like I am, confronted daily by battles, would certainly make the world a better place.

‘Walk alongside’

Twitter informed me this morning that Bethany College in Hepburn, Sask., is closing in 2015 after 87 years of teaching. Ron Toews, director of the Canadian Conference of MB Churches’ leadership development arm, says, “The closure of Bethany doesn’t change the reality that we need to continue walking alongside young women and men as they think about the foundation of their lives.

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