At the peak of the pandemic, Sheryl Tan* found her life falling apart. Her taxi driver husband’s income was hard hit by Covid-19, and the couple was chalking up debt to fund their three children through school.
They call me “mama”: Parenting hostelites is part of my job
After overcoming a battle with cancer, and then serving in Faith Methodist Church for three years, I was all set for a new season of service in my life. The Board of Ministry had assigned me to serve in Timor-Leste. But when my husband and I arrived in Timor- Leste in 2020, there was a change of plans.
Parenting with compassion: Tending to your children’s psychological needs
There are no easy answers as to why some children have behavioural issues such as school withdrawal, low moods, angry outbursts, anxiety and fears. We can start to understand them if we ask the question, “What unmet psychological needs could be driving these behaviours?” The idea of psychological needs is not new. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we learn that human beings are motivated to get these needs met—the physiological needs of rest, food, safety and shelter, and at higher levels the psychological needs of love, acceptance, belonging and esteem.
Being our children’s role model in worship
“Please rise for the Scripture reading.”
A familiar voice then started on the passage. However, after a few verses, I heard a little voice that seemed to come from the same pulpit, but there was no one to be seen. A second later, I recognised that it was the voice of the lectionary reader’s eight-year-old son.
Qing Ming rituals: What’s appropriate for a Christian?
Every April, Chinese all over the world observe Qing Ming (清明节). As Christians, however, we are caught in a bind because as much as we want to maintain harmonious relationships with our family members, our inability to participate in the religious rituals makes us come across as unfilial children. How should we as Christians respond whenever Qing Ming is around the corner?
Surmounting differences with love
A scenario I sometimes use when training counsellors is one of a family in conflict over a daughter’s wish to live with her boyfriend. After a year of living at home after returning from three years of study abroad, the daughter says her boyfriend from overseas is moving to Singapore to work and they plan to live together.
Taking the ego out of worship
Years ago, I worked as a composer on a film project. After many hours of work, I produced what I believed was the perfect soundtrack—it hit all the correct emotional moments, the mixing was skilful, the musicians performed their parts beautifully. Pleased with myself, I hit ‘Send File’, confident that the director would love it.
