As we celebrate the second Sunday in Advent, I’m pondering ways to carve out time to put aside the world’s troubles and experience the true peace of Christmas.

Welcome to the 141^st 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 peace of Christmas, this week I look at turning sewage into fuel, solar canals that save billions of gallons of water, and the connection between carbohydrates and healthy aging.

On my mind this week: Searching for the peace of Christmas

Last week, I kicked off December with a reflection on hope—the theme for the first Sunday of Advent.

Today, I’m pondering the theme for the second Sunday in Advent. It’s something the world desperately needs in 2025—peace.

I’ve written about peace before. In January of 2022, I told how my daughter Colleen asked Santa for world peace when she was six or seven years old—and how I responded when it didn’t happen. As I thought about it years later, I realized peace has to come from within.

In a pre-Christmas post later that year, I discussed the antidote to three things that get in the way of that peace Colleen so desperately wanted—greed, power, and the need to be right.

We need the peace of Christmas more than ever

Here we are over 15 years after Colleen wrote that letter to Santa. Leaders claim to want peace, yet their actions fuel hatred and conflict within and between countries. We need the peace of Christmas in 2025 more than ever before.

Amid all the chaos around the world right now, each of us can only focus on creating peace in our own life. Here are three things I’ve done to help me shut out the hatred and turmoil in the world.

• I start the day with peace and calm. Tea, prayer and reflection are the first things on my agenda every day. This quiet time is non-negotiable, and it starts my day on the right foot. I often wonder if my life would have been different if I’d learned to do that years ago.  
• I choose to do less. Although I always have a lot on the go, I set aside time every day to be still. Depending on the day, I might read a book, listen to music, or go for a walk. At this time of year, just sitting quietly and enjoying the Christmas lights immediately gives me a sense of peace.
• Finally, at the beginning of December I updated my holiday don’t want list. The simple act of making or updating a don’t want list helped shift my focus to the things that really matter.

Coincidentally (or not), as I sat down to write this post, the Bing Crosby and David Bowie version of Drummer Boy came on the radio. As David Bowie so beautifully sang, I pray we will see the day when men of goodwill live in peace.

My wish for you this Christmas season is that you can carve out time to put aside the world’s troubles and experience the true peace of Christmas.

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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:

• Our neighbours held their Santa Meet & Greet on Saturday evening. It was well attended, and they collected lots of food donations for the food bank.
• On Thursday, I went out for a festive lunch with my sister and a dear friend of ours. We had to postpone it from the previous week because of the snowstorm, which turned out to be a good thing because I ended up with a bad cold on the original date.
• On Saturday, we went to the Christkindl Market in downtown Kitchener. I’ve lived here over 30 years and have only been to it a couple of times. It felt good to get outside and walk around.

Things I learned this week

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

Turning sewage into fuel

This week I heard of a couple of initiatives in Germany that are turning human waste into fuel. In Mannheim, the water treatment plant is transforming sewage waste into green methanol that is used to fuel cargo ships.  

And another German startup, Shit2Power (I literally laughed out loud when I read that name), is turning sewage waste into green hydrogen. They estimate this could help a small town of 30,000 residents cover up to a third of its own electricity needs.

(Source: Reasons to be Cheerful)

California solar canals save billions of gallons of water

California has over 4,000 miles of open irrigation canals to provide much-needed water to the state’s agricultural areas. In a pilot, Project Nexus places solar panels directly over those irrigation canals in the central valley. This generates solar energy while shading the canals and slowing evaporation.

Early results of the pilot estimate these solar panels could save roughly 63 billion gallons per year across California’s entire canal system. That’s enough water to supply two million people with drinking water or irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland.

(Source: Happy Eco News)

High-quality carbs contribute to healthy aging

Most trendy diets treat carbs like the bad guy, but a 30-year study found consuming high-quality carbs can contribute to healthy aging. The study found that women in their 70s and 80s who ate more high-quality carbohydrates were significantly more likely to thrive and age in good health. They had improved mental health and memory, and better physical health and mobility.   

But hold on before you reach for that slice of white bread or sugary snack! The key is high-quality carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. 

(Source: Super Age)

This week’s simple living challenge – Consider charitable gifts

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 rethink gift buying and consider charitable gifts instead. Visit this post on my Second Life Vision site for 6 ways to incorporate charitable giving into your holiday plans.

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.