The Best Books I Read in 2020
In what has become a fun annual tradition, here is my year in reading - all the fiction, non-fiction, memoir, poetry, theology and other titles I read with short reflections on each. Some of these books happen to have been released this year too, but many are older. I used to publish this list around
Three Ways to Reflect on Your Life
In his famous poem The Four Quartets, TS Elliott says "We had the experience, but missed the meaning." How true! Too often life can become one long series of unrelated events - a conversation here, an appointment there, walking the dog, working through our to-do lists - and we miss any deeper significance they hold. If you're anything like me, 2020 is ending in a rush
You’re Both So Different? That Could Be What Makes Your Marriage Work
After 21 years, I sometimes look at my wife Merryn and wonder how our marriage works. I’m a writer and speaker, Merryn is a statistician. I work with words, she works with numbers. I want beauty, she wants function. And that’s only the start of our differences! Here’s what’s helped us stick together…
We Need a New Renaissance of Faith. These Three Commitments Can Help
Five hundred years ago the Renaissance brought an explosion of art, science, geographical discovery and religious ideas into the world. What would it take to see a new renaissance (rebirth) of wisdom, creativity, community and faith in this coming decade?
Let’s Turn This Problem into a Quest
A few years ago I wrote a book about starting again after broken dreams. Any naivete I still had about the world and its problems was soon dispelled as hundreds of readers shared their own broken dreams with me. To this day, the hardest part is replying to these stories without resorting to cliché. What Good
Grief is the Honour We Give to Those Who Loved Us Well
Earlier this year, before Covid made things complicated, I attended a thanksgiving service for a much-loved member of our church. We lost Eileen to cancer at just 68 years of age. As the service began, more chairs had to be put out to accommodate the number of people arriving. And it led to a lesson learned
Listen For the Voice that Can Only Be Heard in Stillness
Stop. Breathe. Interrupt the rush. There is deep meaning to be found in our everyday lives, but we won’t find it if we don’t pause to reflect, listening for the Voice that can only be heard in stillness. This is video five in a special series adapted from my new gift book, Reflect with Sheridan.
Good News For Behind-The-Scenes People: Your Work is Indispensable
In a celebrity-driven age like ours it’s easy to applaud those who work on the top deck—the public faces of business, government, medicine, entertainment—while overlooking those who work in the galleys and engine rooms that keep the ship running. Are you a back office, behind-the-scenes kind of person? Well lift your head high as your work
The Day I Met My Seventeen Year-Old Self
What would you say to your seventeen year-old self if you met them face to face? One strange afternoon I had such an experience. Drawn from the new gift book Reflect with Sheridan, this is the third of a five-part video series exploring the book’s themes of joy, wonder, meaning, belonging, compassion, callings, seasons, change and
Why Beauty Leaves Us Breathless
A vivid sunset, a misty horizon, the vibrant life of a colourful coral reef. In the presence of such beauty could we in fact be glimpsing something more? Drawn from the new gift book Reflect with Sheridan, this is the second in a five-part video series exploring the book’s themes of joy, wonder, meaning, belonging, compassion,