The Afterword

Category: Daily Prompt

  • Good vs. Great: The Difference a Teacher Makes

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    Peter
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    It’s a good question: What makes a teacher great? We’ve all known teachers who were good — even brilliant — at their subject. But that’s not the same as being great. At the school I attended, the smartest minds in the staff room were often the poorest teachers. They understood their material, but not their…

  • A Medical Mystery (with All Original Parts)

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    Peter
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    When people start talking surgeries, medications, or hospital stays, I tend to sit quietly and wonder if I missed a rite of passage. I’m in my late 60s, and the only time I’ve been near a hospital bed was 20 years ago for an outpatient procedure. No overnight stay. No gown. No jelly cup. I…

  • A Day in the Life (With Minor Interruptions)

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    Peter
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    My days start early. I get up around 4:30am—sometimes earlier, sometimes later. I never set an alarm. It’s just when I wake up. I wasn’t always a morning person—in my 20s I was the opposite—but the older I get, the earlier I rise. The first thing I do is feed the animals. Both the dog…

  • Tiny Daily Shifts: A Habitual Approach to Sustainability

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    Peter
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    People sometimes ask what it looks like to live more sustainably day-to-day, as though the answer might be sweeping or heroic. But most of the time, for me, it’s less about bold gestures and more about habits — small decisions, repeated daily, that shift the dial a little. Here are a few I try to…

  • “Mon Dieu, C’est Délicieux!” – The Summer Dish That Leaves the Room Silent

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    Peter
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    I’m the main cook in our house. Since I work from home most days, I’m usually the one who does the shopping too. When life gets busy, meals can get a bit repetitive — the same rotation of favourites, week after week. But every now and then, I get a burst of inspiration and try…

  • The Outfit I’d Be Willing to Be Known For

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    Peter
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    Or, The Guy in the Red Vest If I had to wear one outfit over and over again, I already know what it would be. Not because it’s the most flattering thing I’ve ever owned, or the most fashionable. But because I’ve already worn it, over and over. And I’ve already been known for it.…

  • Not What I Expected: On Spirituality, Surprise, and the Shape of Faith

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    Peter
    in

    Spirituality is very important in my life. That probably sounds predictable—I’m a minister, after all, and have spent my entire adult life in one form of ministry or another. You’d expect spirituality to be central to me. But the truth is, I didn’t grow up in a particularly spiritual household. Ours was a solid, reliable,…

  • A Royal Waste of Time: Why I Wish I Wasted More

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    Peter
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    This is an intriguing question: How do you waste the most time every day?Part of me wonders—do I waste enough? Marva Dawn wrote a book I’ve returned to often, titled A Royal Waste of Time. She suggests that much of our modern thinking—even in worship—gets caught up in outcomes and effectiveness. Did it connect? Did…

  • The Offal Truth: A Taste of Childhood

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    Peter
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    One day, when we’re finally through this obsession with novelty—when every meal doesn’t need a backstory and options—I’ll sit down with the next generation and  tell them what real courage looked like. It looked like sitting down to dinner on a Thursday night knowing it was going to be fish fingers, and doing it anyway.…

  • The Plinth

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    Peter
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    Scene 1: The Plinth (Tuesday) Every Saturday, the crowds came.They spilled from trains and buses, jerseys clinging to skin, faces painted in club colours. At the edge of the plaza, the bronze footballer stood frozen—one leg raised, mid-kick, triumph etched into the sinews of his cast-metal thigh. Children climbed the plinth. Tourists struck poses. On…

  • The Crush That Wasn’t

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    Peter
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    I was 17 and had just unlocked the holy trinity of teenage freedom: a driver’s license, a half-reliable car, and parents who happily filled the tank. Enter: her. Sixteen. Bright. Cheerful. Needed a lift home from youth group. Or outings. Or basically anywhere that I could feasibly drive without stalling. I had a crush. A…

  • What I Hold

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    Peter
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    Every so often, I find myselfreaching for the map again,not the one with borders and rail lines,but the one folded somewhere in my chest—creased with names I’ve never spoken aloud,warmed by places I haven’t stood inbut already miss. I hold England like an heirloom—my grandmother in Leeds,the streets she might have walkedwith a loaf under…

  • When People Are the Story

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    Peter
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    What’s your favourite thing about yourself?It’s an odd question, isn’t it? Odd, because I don’t tend to think in terms of favourites. And if I do reflect on what I value, it usually loops back to other people. So perhaps I’d say this: I’m glad that I still care deeply about people. Not in a…

  • Still Growing

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    Peter
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    In younger years, people were always starting things.We started jobs in borrowed suits,projects with foam boards and bright markers,planted basil in windowsills,thinking it would last forever. Now I am setting things down,not out of weariness,but as you might let go of a kite string—watching it rise,not fall. We have an old apartment near the sea.It’s…

  • Kindness, with a Key

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    Peter
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    For me, it would be my car — a 2006 Honda Accord.It’s coming up for its 20th birthday next year and has 250,000 km on the clock. I’m the third owner. I bought it from friends I know well — the kind of people who are fastidious with everything they own. I’d dropped in to…

  • A Piece of the Past

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    Peter
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    I was running a memoir writing course for a group of older adults, including my mother and father. As part of a writing exercise, we laid out a range of objects on a table—simple items intended to spark memories. Each participant was invited to choose one and use it as a prompt for free writing.…

  • Where It All Began

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    Peter
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    Today we began the drive home after two weeks in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. It’s been a beautiful holiday—sunny days, cool nights, slow mornings, and long walks with the dog along beaches where she could run free. She was wonderful company, curling up contentedly each night after her seaside adventures. We…

  • A Reflection on Passion, People, and Quiet Convictions

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    Peter
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    A lot of my passions begin quietly, relationally, with a gentle nudge toward something or someone worth noticing. Over the years, I’ve come to realise that I’m passionate about a handful of things—though they don’t always shout their name. They don’t always dress up as “passion” the way the world defines it. But they endure.…

  • Spring in Sydney

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    Peter
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    Something in the city is sighing awake.Lorikeet-noise. Jasminespilled over brick walls.Something in the city has learnedto bloom without asking—wisteria elbowing througha rusted trellis,jacaranda softeningconcrete with purple. Magpie shadow, has itmercy? Or memory?Sun-warmed footpath,still cool in the cracks.A waratah flaressomewhere behind the noise—not a flag, but a hush. Something in the cityhas returned—hatchling chirp.Push of small…

  • A Season That Sings

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    Peter
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    What’s your favourite season of the year? For me, it’s spring—without question. There’s something about Sydney in springtime that makes the world feel new again. Not in a loud or showy way, but in the quiet unfolding of beauty—one flower, one birdcall, one longer afternoon at a time. Bushwalking becomes a joy this time of…