Christa Meland

Grief and Grieving

4 Helpful Tips to Navigate COVID-19 Grief and Loss

The COVID-19 vaccine starting to make its rounds has brought some measure of hope to many Americans—but a lot of us are still navigating grief and loss after a most difficult year. Dr. Pauline Boss, professor emeritus of family social science at the University of Minnesota, coined the term “ambiguous…

Christa MelandJanuary 12, 2021

Guest Blogs Healing Stories and Storytelling

Held Up by Love: What Cancer Has Taught Me (Guest Post)

We are grateful to be able to share a beautiful and thoughtful reflection from Rev. Cindy Gregorson, who serves as director of ministries for the Minnesota Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. In October 2018, she was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma. She underwent surgery the following month to…

Christa MelandDecember 26, 2020

Grief and Grieving Healing Stories and Storytelling Music Purposeful Living

Join us for Oasis 2020: Hope and Possibility

Join us at 6:45 p.m. Dec. 29 for a virtual event to explore and honor the loss and grief we've experienced amid the pandemic and to look ahead to brighter days. The event, Oasis 2020: Hope and Possibility, is our gift to you after the crushing and confusing losses many…

Christa MelandDecember 15, 2020

End of Life Wisdom Grief and Grieving

Saying Goodbye to Beloved Pets

Over the past nine months, as many of us have been working from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve spent more time with our pets than ever before: They lay next to us as we type. They alert us anytime there’s a noise in our neighborhood. They even make occasional…

Christa MelandDecember 4, 2020

Purposeful Living

Join Us For Our Thanksgiving Week Gratitude Challenge

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” —Aesop Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. No gifts to buy and wrap, no pressure to massively decorate, no stress—just a whole lot of turkey and family time. But this year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent surge of…

Christa MelandNovember 17, 2020

End of Life Wisdom Food for thought Guest Blogs

Longtime Palliative Care Chaplain Talks Life, Death, Healing (Guest Post)

We are grateful to be able to share a deep and rich reflection from a now retired palliative care chaplain. Katie Herman worked at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis from 1996 to 2012 and as a member of its Palliative Care Team immediately after it formed in 2003. Then from…

Christa MelandNovember 9, 2020

Healing Stories and Storytelling Purposeful Living

How Pregnancy Losses Gave Way to Gratitude, Renewed Purpose

When my husband and I were ready to have a child, we both assumed that it would be easy for me to become pregnant, and that the following year, we’d have a baby in our arms. After nine months of trying, we got the news we were hoping for. We…

Christa MelandOctober 24, 2020

Advance Care Directives

What I Learned Planning for the End

“Do you want us to buy you a burial plot?” The question from my parents caught me completely off-guard. I was in my 20s at the time—healthy, focused on my career, newly married, and looking forward to eventually having children. Dying and death were the furthest things from my mind.…

Christa MelandOctober 16, 2020

4 Helpful Tips to Navigate COVID-19 Grief and Loss

Held Up by Love: What Cancer Has Taught Me (Guest Post)

Join us for Oasis 2020: Hope and Possibility

Saying Goodbye to Beloved Pets

Join Us For Our Thanksgiving Week Gratitude Challenge

Longtime Palliative Care Chaplain Talks Life, Death, Healing (Guest Post)

What I Learned Planning for the End

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