Author: Isabel Allison

In most of the emails that I have sent out to friends or strangers during this time when the COVID-19 virus has been rampaging in the world, I have requested that people pray to God for success for scientists who are striving to develop … Read more

From my kitchen window, I enjoy the heavy, low-flying, distinctively coloured, quiet, slow-mannered pair of wood ducks that like to rest on their webbed feet awhile on the horizontal branches of my big, old maple trees almost every morning … Read more

Have you ever had joy in doing a difficult task? Was your joy related to the expected outcome? The writer of the Biblical letter to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus had joy in His perspective even when enduring the cross, in what we see as … Read more

Last fall, the apples from my only apple tree were terribly riddled with wee worm tracks, but I managed to salvage enough good apple parts from half a pail of apples to get a big jar of great applesauce. I read of a man who felt that his … Read more

With the importance of the moment smiling through his bushy red moustache, Grandpa eased into his chair at one end of the long, full table where the jars of red cranberry sauce nestled in poinsettia skirts — the final touch of Grandma's … Read more

Years ago, my uncle walked from his workshop — the behind-the-hedge kitchen piece of the former old farmhouse — then he came out across the grassy house yard and into the kitchen of the newer house. He held out his hammer to me. He knew … Read more

One bitterly cold morning, when I had an early appointment at a hospital a distance from home, I got into my car in my garage and turned the key — only a flash of red light. I tried several times, but no start. I walked toward my kitchen … Read more

One day when I was little, I found, as the surprise in my popcorn box, a tiny pair of scissors. But how horrible! They would not open. They just sat there in the palm of my hand, a senseless, one-piece thing of cast metal. I felt put-down … Read more

In Nigeria, Africa, the Mbe Bible-translating team was into Luke chapter 2, verse 7. They did not even pause at their Mbe word used for manger. They had always used the word okpang orally and in their partial translations. But now, … Read more

My north window looks onto the schoolyard. There I see old box elders, young replacement trees, and a half-grown silver maple with leaves shaped much like the one on our Canadian flag. But the silver maple's leaves were brown — in … Read more