For various reasons, our current social climate seems to have been a lot more blusterous and turbulent than usual, lately. Ensuring that we are connected to as many resources and tools that can assist us as we reflectively and discerningly continue to pave better ways forward, is vital.

My freshly turned four-year-old son's current favourite toys are a pair of wooden [display] wheels he was gifted for his birthday. One is a Weather Wheel, where on it, he can move the dial to one of six different weather options (Sunny, Overcast, Windy, Frosty, Stormy and Raining) each illustrated in different sectors of the wheel.

The second is an Emotions Wheel, which is like the first one, but for each sector of this wheel, eight simple symbols for different emotions, ranging from Frustrated and Worried to Excited and Loved are included.

My son updates the weather wheel dial whenever he notices that the weather outside has changed; in Auckland, like many other parts of the country, this happens quite frequently. Whenever he wants to make his emotions explicitly known, everyone at our house is shown which sector of the Emotions Wheel he best identifies with at the time.

Google research revealed that although each wheel [or disc] was made and sold by the same company, they weren't sold in the pair in which they had been gifted. But together, they make a profound pair. In my son's words, "This one (the Weather Wheel) is for the weather outside, and this one (the Emotions Wheel) is for the weather inside" as he points to his chest.

For various reasons, our current social climate seems to have been a lot more blusterous and turbulent than usual, lately. In addition to tending to the aftermath of the weather extremes from earlier this year, amongst my extended family and the wider communities that we are a part of, serious causes for concern and worry have also been raised as a consequence of anti-transgender and anti-co-governance rallies and attitudes, as well as the various counterprotest rallies and demonstrations to these.

Within our hāhi, hearing the serious historic and recently reported cases of abuse at Wesley College, and the concerns that led to the appointment of a statutory manager by the Education Review Office while a special review of the school continues, would have been a difficult experience for past and present students and their families, staff, the members of both boards and many of us who are connected to the school.

Furthermore, even as we continue to review the work of many of our Connexional boards and committees, the criticisms, frustrations, scrutiny, and shared opinions about the work of different parts of our own Connexion, can be demanding.

This month, six months after our Bicentenary Conference, as we continue to navigate through what may seem to be very intense squall lines amidst different parts of our own Connexional family, it is important to remember that much of the preparation for what we are currently moving through had already been forecast and reflected in the discussions and decisions that were made at Conference. Staying the course, while ensuring that we are connected to as many resources and tools that can assist us as we reflectively and discerningly continue to pave better ways forward, is vital.

We can also take comfort in knowing that within our hāhi, both historically and currently we are made up of many dedicated, knowledgeable, courageous, and creative advocates and activists for social justice, social change, transformation, peace and healing. President Peter and I have had the privilege of meeting and working alongside many of these people already and we look forward to meeting and working alongside others in the future.

Towards the end of May, we observe Wesley Day as well as the southern hemisphere’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The theme for the latter is "Do good, seek justice" and I’m reminded again of my son’s favourite pair of wheels.

Despite the times when the dial for our social weather wheel seems to be stuck on Stormy, my prayer, especially this month, is that the area in each of us, that my son refers to when he uses his Emotions Wheel, is empowered to feel the same strange and transforming warmth as John Wesley.