Our Executive Director is a columnist for the Christian Reformed Church’s Do Justice blog. She writes quarterly for them. Here’s an excerpt from her contribution in December.

I’ve lost my voice.

Tis the season… of colds and illness. Combined with a busy season for Restorations attending numerous events and speaking engagements, a seasonal cold has caught up with me and I’ve lost my voice.

Every time I lose my voice, I am reminded of the privilege it is to have a voice – both the physical ability to speak words, and the privilege I hold in having my voice and my ideas heard.

My daughter is three and in that phase where she’s curious and asks questions about everything and anything. We were running late one morning a couple of weeks ago, and as I was rushing her to the car she stooped over to pick up something from the ground. It was a bud of some sort and she asked, “Why is it green?” I quickly brushed her off with an “I don’t know.” Her response caught me off guard: “Maybe it didn’t have a chance to bloom.”

“Abundance in the Wilderness” is a Lenten video devotional series put together by the Reformed Church in America’s Women’s Transformation and Leadership team.

I am not a fan of winter – never have been, and likely never will be. The cold of our southern Ontario winters has me longing for milder spring and (better yet) warm summer.

This past weekend, we had above seasonal temperatures. It was glorious. Most winters, I find that I have to make extra effort to look after my mental health; something about winters just puts me in a funk. But this past weekend – as I spent time outdoors basking in the sun and milder temperature, thinking about my spring garden and summer barbeques – a word kept popping into my mind: hope.