The Afterword

Author: Peter

  • Writing That Fills Me

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    Peter
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    What’s one habit that has improved your life the most? When I first started writing as a hobby many years ago, I set aside one morning each week. It was a discipline, and for a while it worked. Eventually, though, it was crowded out. I stopped writing for myself during the years when I was…

  • Being Needed and Being Whole

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    Peter
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    What’s a chapter of your life you’d title “The Hard Years”— and what got you through it? People often say that a person’s forties can be the hardest years of their life. That was true for me. I would call that chapter The Hard Years. Not because everything collapsed, but because I came face to…

  • Ira’s Version

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    Peter
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    What is a book you think deserves a sequel? Some books do not need a sequel. They need another perspective. I wrote recently about how much I enjoyed Anne Tyler’s Breathing Lessons https://theafterword.blog/2026/05/16/a-single-day/. It is a novel about one ordinary day in the life of a middle-aged married couple, Maggie and Ira Moran, as they…

  • When the Villain Tells the Truth

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    Peter
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    What villain actually had a good point? I love the movie, Driving Miss Daisy. The characters are wonderful. Their relationships are beautiful. And it is funny as well. There is no straightforward villain in that film. Hoke is not the villain. Boolie is not the villain. Miss Daisy is flawed, proud, defensive, and shaped by…

  • Where Would I Live?

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    Peter
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    If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? I’m tempted to name a place I’ve never been. Costa Rica. It keeps popping up in my feed, which probably says as much about the algorithm as it does about me. But I am intrigued. The prompt asks, “If you could live anywhere…

  • Walking Steadily Through Chaos

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    Peter
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     Is a little chaos actually good for us? On the outside, I think I appear fairly calm and ordered. I suppose I am. I like things to be thoughtful, organised and clear. But there is another side of me too. There is something in me that enjoys creativity, risk and a little bit of chaos.…

  • A Culture of Life – James 5:13-20

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    Peter
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    Is anyone among you in trouble?Then pray.Not because prayer is a leverand God is a machine,but because trouble reminds uswe are childrenturning againtoward the Father. Is anyone happy?Then sing.Praise is prayerwith its hands open,naming goodnesswhile it is still before us. Is anyone sick?Then call the elders.Let the community come close.Let oil be brought,medicine and sign,ordinary…

  • The Kind of Voice I Trust

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    Peter
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    Who is your favourite blogger to follow? That’s a good question. I follow a few bloggers, but there isn’t one who clearly stands above all the others. Maybe that is because I don’t really follow bloggers. I follow voices. The voices I am drawn to are honest, reflective, humane, and not trying too hard. They…

  • Before The Problem Starts Shouting

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    Peter
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    What’s a lesson you’ve learned recently that shifted your perspective? Problems often speak before they shout. That is something I have been learning recently. Looking back, there have been situations where the signs were there early in the piece. They were not dramatic. They were not disasters. No alarms were ringing. But there were small…

  • In Praise of a Boring Evening

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    Peter
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    What do you do to improve your sleep? My strategy is simple: I try to keep the evening boring. That may not sound like much of a sleep strategy. It is not clever. It is not glamorous. But it works. Most of us know the basics. No doom-scrolling. No late caffeine. A predictable routine. A…

  • Who’s Counting?

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    Peter
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    Hit 5,000 steps today and dropyour achievement here— we’re cheering you on! Confession time: I don’t count steps. I don’t have an app. I don’t have a fitness tracker. I don’t check my progress during the day. I just walk. Weird, I know. But I could probably work it out. This morning’s 30-minute walk with…

  • Give Them a Chair, Not the Microphone

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    Peter
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    What’s the best way to deal with negative thoughts? Negative thoughts are not always lies, but they are rarely good leaders. It does not take much for them to emerge. A rash reaction you now regret. A mistake you wish you could undo. An embarrassing moment you would happily erase if you could. Before long…

  • More or Less

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    Peter
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    What do you love now, that you hated when you were younger? When I was younger, more seemed better. I loved to read, and building a library was something I valued. Book by book, shelf by shelf, I watched the collection grow. There was satisfaction in it. A growing library felt like a sign of…

  • One Small Act of Trust

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    Peter
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    What’s a time you followed your gut and it turned out to be exactly right? Sometimes you meet someone briefly and sense that they are trustworthy. I met him in Tanzania. I was there working on a project and he was assigned as my translator when I spoke at a church. We were together for…

  • Ask for Patience – James 5:7-12

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    Peter
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    It was the best of timesand it was the worst of times,and James knew it. He wrote to peoplecaught in contradiction,faithful to Jesus,yet still suffering,still divided. Stress exposed weakness.Weakness found a tunnel.Pain became frustration.Frustration became grumbling. So James says,be patient.Not passive.Not numb.Not pretending.Patient. Long suffering.Able to take a hitwithout returning one.Able to choose gracewhen irritation…

  • Stephen Colbert for Emperor

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    Peter
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    Emperor Palpatine has announced open elections for a new Emperor — and he’s nominated Darth Vader. You get to nominate one challenger. This is the sort of election where the outcome feels predetermined. When the sitting Emperor endorses a towering figure in black armour who can strangle people with his mind, one suspects democracy may…

  • Together

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    Peter
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    What is something you used to believe as a kidthat seems ridiculous now? When I was a child, I believed that adults knew what they were doing. Adults seemed to know how life worked. They knew how money worked, what to do when something broke, and how to respond when something went wrong. They seemed…

  • Watership Down

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    Peter
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    What is a piece of media (book, movie, song)that changed how you see the world? I loved Watership Down when it came out in 1978. I saw the film first, and was so affected by it that I went on to read the book. That is very rare for me. Usually, if I have seen…

  • The Wisdom of Unfinished Endings

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    Peter
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    If you could change the ending of any book, which one would it be? I must admit that I baulk at the question. The reason is simple. I respect art too much. A book is not a product for my satisfaction. It is the work of another person’s imagination. So whether I like the ending…

  • Meeting People Part Way

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    Peter
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    Which languages do you speak and how did that impact your life? I admire people who can speak multiple languages. Working in a university college, I spend my days talking with students from all over the world. The are here to study degrees that are taught in English but many of them speak multiple languages.…