As we light the joy candle on the Advent wreath today, I reflect on the joy of singing with the choir at this time of year.

Welcome to the 142^nd edition of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a simple living challenge for the week. Along with the joy of singing, this week’s edition looks at reforestation drones, the impact of congestion pricing in New York City, and the fun of a recycled gift exchange.

On my mind this week: The joy of singing

Today, we light the third candle on the Advent wreath. This week’s candle represents joy as we anticipate the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day.

It’s easy to lose sight of that joy amid the busyness of the season. Last December, I shared three of my favourite simple holiday joys. Not surprisingly to anyone who knows me well, Christmas music and singing with the choir made the list. Singing, in any setting, is always a great source of joy for me.

There’s nothing like singing and and making music with other people to boost the spirits and create a sense of community. Further, research shows singing is good for our physical, mental, and social health. My love of music prompted me to join our local School of Rock 10 years ago. And I love my Thursday evening jam sessions with the band even when they ask me to sing things I wouldn’t ordinarily sing.

Then there’s the choir. As a teenager, I sang in two church choirs, and I’ve been a member of our church choir for the past 25 years.

Pope Leo’s reflection on music

Earlier this week, someone shared with me the text of a homily given by Pope Leo a couple of weeks ago. It’s a beautiful and insightful reflection on music for all who sing at Mass.

Singing, in particular, constitutes a natural and refined expression of the human being: mind, feelings, body, and soul come together to communicate the great events of life.

Pope Leo XIV

Reading this came at a good time as I’ve been questioning my role in the choir. Two years ago, when our previous choir leader moved away, I reluctantly took on the role of choir leader. While I love to sing, I don’t have formal music background and honestly don’t think I’m the best person for the job. However, as is the case with many things, no-one else was willing to do it.

Taking on the leadership role changed a lot of things for me. By necessity, I now focus more on everything else that’s going on and less on my own singing. I miss the joy of just being able to sing. I’d rather not deal with the drama and all of the other challenges that come with leading any group of people. Interestingly, Pope Leo addressed just that in his homily.

Even when this journey is beset by difficulties and trials and joyful moments give way to more challenging ones, singing makes the journey lighter, providing relief and consolation.

Pope Leo XIV

Singing does make the journey lighter, and I love how much our music adds to the celebration and helps people grow in their faith. But I pray someone else will step up and take on leadership of the choir. Then I can get back to focusing on the joy of singing.

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Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• We had a terrific choir practice on Monday. I love it when everything comes together. One of the songs we’re working on is He Shall Reign Forevermore by Chris Tomlin. At last week’s practice, it was a nightmare. This week, it was so much better—almost ready for prime time. If you don’t know this song, give it a listen. It’s beautiful. https://youtu.be/NVN2bnjBlCU?si=snDS17xY6Ux0y_Ce
• We had more snow this week and the sight of the snow hanging in the trees was gorgeous. It looked like something you’d see on a Christmas card.
• My husband and I went to one of our favourite restaurants on Thursday for lunch. While I was there, I picked up some of their delicious baked goodies for Christmas.

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning. Here are three things I learned this week:

Reforestation drones

Scientists in Japan have developed automated systems that use drones to plant forests 10 times faster than conventional approaches. These AI-driven planting systems can operate continuously across remote and inaccessible locations that human volunteers cannot reach.

Now that’s a positive use for AI.

(Source: Happy Eco News)

 Congestion pricing works in NYC

Early data shows congestion pricing in New York City is delivering results. In the first six months after the program was introduced in January, traffic in the congestion zone dropped by 11%, accidents by 14%, and complaints of excessive honking or other noise by 45%.  Even better, data on air quality, traffic, and weather conditions, revealed particulate pollution was down 22% in parts of Manhattan affected by congestion pricing. 

(Source: Yale Environment 360)

What people were interested in this year

I always find it fascinating at this time of year to see the various lists of things that made news during the year, or what people were searching on search engines. This week, Our World in Data released a list of their most viewed interactive charts of the year and it sums up what has been on people’s minds in 2025:

• CO₂ emissions
• Life expectancy
• Democracy
• Temperature anomalies
• Economic growth

Amid all the political turmoil of 2025, I was happy to see a couple of environmental topics on the list.

This week’s simple living challenge – Recycled gift exchange

Simplifying life is a big part of living more intentionally. With that in mind, I kicked off the year with 52 ways to simplify your life this year, including a downloadable checklist of weekly tasks.

This week’s challenge is to plan a recycled gift exchange instead of buying new gifts. We do this with my husband’s family every year and it’s a lot of fun. Everyone gets to declutter a few things from their house. And if you don’t like the gift you end up with, you can swap it with someone else. The swapping is almost as much fun as the giving. Check out this post for a fun gift exchange game to liven up the festivities.

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I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.