All posts by Abby Smith

About Abby Smith

Abby is a person. She works at being an emotionally intelligent person whose main focus currently is being a happy and loving mother to four kids and wife to Malcolm. Born and raised in a General church minister's family, she has been exposed to the Bible and the Writings since childhood but is enjoying reading and understanding these books as an adult more and more. The amazing knowledge about love and wisdom and all of the emotions that follow have truly made her a happier and more self-assured person.

Dealing With Differences With Dr. Seuss

Article

“And I began to see
That I was just as strange to them
As they were strange to me!”
-Dr. Seuss’ “What Was I Scared Of?”

I love children’s literature. Given that I have four young kids I get the chance to read a lot of it. I enjoy it (and feel it’s a sign of it being good literature) when the books I’m reading to my kids make me think and feel and connect with thoughts I have about people and the world. Living away from my country of origin in these rather dramatic first weeks of 2017, which have been full of unrest and confusion in some ways the world over, I have thought a lot about similarities and differences.
Continue reading Dealing With Differences With Dr. Seuss →

Communities in Heaven and on Earth

Quotes and Reflections

I’ve been thinking a lot over the last year about the significance of community. Having a group of people who you feel known and understood by, loved and supported by, and with whome that feeling is reciprocated, is an amazing gift.

Earlier in my life I experienced high anxiety as a result of a lack of that kind of community. More specifically it was feeling like my internal emotions and experience didn’t line up with the external appearances about the community I lived in. In terms of religion, skin color, and economic standing I fit with the majority but internally I didn’t feel like I fit in. I also felt as if I had to hide some part of me and that caused significant anxiety.

In some ways being an “obvious” part of the majority of the community was a big part of my emotional conflict. I didn’t feel confrontational or brave enough to demonstrate to people the ways I didn’t fit expectations, but the internal awareness of the fact that I didn’t fit and hiding that caused a lot of anxiety. Continue reading Communities in Heaven and on Earth →

Self Care: How Much is Too Much?

Article

I am a stay at home mom with a six year old in grade R (kindergarten), three and a half year old twins, who are home with me, and a new baby due some time in the next month or so. Balancing their needs (also the needs of my wonderful husband, who is usually more helpful than needy) with my needs is a daily effort. Finding ways to take care of myself, while having three little people who are very good at making their wants and wishes known, is not usually easy.

In some ways taking care of myself is very easy for me. There are a lot of activities I like that are self focused. It could be easy to spend lots of time focused on things that I find rejuvenating and re-centering, but I don’t actually prioritize it that much, partly just from lack of clarity around how much to put these things at the top of my to-do list. Continue reading Self Care: How Much is Too Much? →

Is God Fair?

Article

It matters to me that life is fair. I know that life isn’t fair—naturally—but one of the ways that New Church teachings have really come to life for me is in finding the ways that life is fair spiritually. It has always felt very important to me to believe in a fair God. I have spent a lot of time over the past few years thinking about Divine Providence, and I think when I first was looking it seemed sort of flat and lifeless. But now it feels like one of the most healing, wonderful, and epic teachings in my life because it has showed me that God is universally fair.

Here are some of the passages that articulate some of the ideas that really matter to me. I’m including some long readings here, but bear with me. The story of Joseph from Genesis is quite long (you can read it starting here). It is a story that includes pain, difficulty and loss, much of which is referred to in the quote I am including, but to save space I’m not going to include more of the story. Continue reading Is God Fair? →