Tag: dailyprompt
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A Gift Finding Form
What was the best compliment you’ve received? The best compliment I received was not praise for something I had done, but recognition of something I was becoming. I went to theological college because I wanted to study the Bible. I was hungry to learn, but I never imagined candidating for ministry. I am a fairly…
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Modes of Encounter
You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike? Every trip says something about the person taking it. That’s what I think. Not in a grand psychological sense. Just in the small way choices reveal us. The pragmatist books the plane. The romantic takes the train. The free spirit wants the car…
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The Courage of Conviction
Who is the most confident person you know? For me, confidence is not bravado. It is not loudness, swagger, or an inflated sense of self. A confident person has the courage of their convictions. They listen carefully, think independently, and act on what they believe. Their confidence is clothed in humility. They are willing to…
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The Things I Come Back To
What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings? I don’t have a toolkit for coping with negative feelings, at least not in any formal sense, but I do know what fits the way I am wired. Over time I have learned to return to a few simple things. Prayer is one of them.…
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A Kind of Flow
What activities do you lose yourself in? I lose myself in writing, walking, and sport, and each of them impacts me in a different way. Writing often gets hold of me. It can be an idea, a life story, a poem, a short story. Something catches, and once it does I can lose all track…
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The Sound of Music, Again
What movies or TV series have you watched more than 5 times? I’ve started rewatching The Sound of Music. Not because I’ve suddenly developed a hidden devotion to alpine scenery and singing nuns. It’s just that my mother is deteriorating quickly with dementia, and I visit her every week in the nursing home, and there…
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Beyond Signs and Rituals
Are you superstitious? A few years ago, in Beijing, I noticed signs in public places warning against superstition. At first I assumed they meant religion, because that is often the Western reflex: if someone believes in something you do not, just label it superstition and carry on. But that was not what these signs meant.…
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Alert to the Edges
Which animal would you compare yourself to and why? I am like a border collie in the sense that I am attentive, relational, and usually aware of what is happening around me. I tend to notice the dynamics in a room, sense when there is tension, and think about how people might be brought onto…
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To My Hundred-Year-Old Self
Write a letter to your 100-year-old self. Dear 100-year-old me, I wonder what kind of world is holding you now. When I write this, we are living in an age of appetite: a world that always wants more—more wealth, more comfort, more power—without asking what that hunger is doing to us. I hope that by…
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Shopping for the Future
Where would you go on a shopping spree? I’m not much of a shopper. I buy what I need, but I rarely find myself dreaming of more, which means I can be slow to replace things even when they are clearly wearing out. Shirts can get frayed before I finally do something about them, and…
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Grace in the Middle
What is your middle name? Does it carry any special meaning/significance? My middle name is John. It was not passed down as a family tradition; in fact, my father has no middle name. I suspect my parents chose it simply because it was a name they liked. But I have come to value it for…
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A Small Act of Welcome
What is the last thing you learned? Every year we welcome students from all over the world, and this year they arrived from 35 different countries. One of the small disciplines I try to keep is learning their names, not just acknowledging them when we pass in the corridor, but greeting them as accurately as…
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The Question on Repeat
What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain. My current most-hated question is, “So—when are you going to retire?” My father asks it every time I see him. He’s ninety-six, and he asks it with the casual confidence of a man who thinks this is a normal question, like commenting on the weather.…
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What Failure Taught Me About Success
How has a failure, or apparent failure, set you up for later success? What felt like one of my greatest professional failures at the time turned out to be one of the most important turning points in my life. I had applied for a lecturing role in another state that seemed perfectly suited to my…
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More Twists Than I Expected
You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence? My opening sentence would be: I grew up thinking life would be straightforward; it rarely was, and that turned out to be a gift. I once said to a friend that almost nothing in my life had gone the way I expected, and I did not mean…
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Three Objects, Three Values
What are three objects you couldn’t live without? The three objects I couldn’t live without are not glamorous, but they do tell the truth about me. The first is my laptop. It is my library, office, writing desk, research assistant, and communication centre all in one. So much of my life runs through it. It…
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The Loss That Changed Me
What experiences in life helped you grow the most? I grew a lot the day I realised I had been scammed. I was older when I bought an apartment as an investment, and I trusted advice that seemed sensible at the time. A friend had recommended a financial adviser, and he showed me a number…
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The Farmer
Listen—not all ground is broken the same.The farmer knows this.He runs his hand through the soil,presses it between thumb and palm,waits for the windbefore he lifts the plough. He does not thresh dilllike he threshes wheat.Black cumin is not crushed by a cartwheel.Each seed has its way,each time its season. So too the Lord—sometimes a…
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More Than Destiny
Do you believe in fate/destiny? I don’t believe in fate, at least not as some impersonal force that fixes every outcome in advance. But as a Christian, I do believe in the presence and guidance of God. Fate suggests that everything is locked in and life simply unfolds as it must. Faith says something quite…
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A Season of Easy Belonging
Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to. It surprised me how hard it was to leave high school. I enjoyed those years. My world was small, familiar and full of good friendships, and many of those people are still part of my life. University was the opposite. It was big,…
