A Simple Gift of Song for the New Year

During the months of November and December our Quakerism curriculum focused on the testimony of Simplicity. This testimony is deliberately chosen to counter-balance what can often become of the many holidays we celebrate at this time of year, and to help us be mindful of the simple meanings that are at the heart of these religious and secular celebrations.

The December query for our small Worship Sharing groups was, "Since gifts are not something that must be bought, can you think of a simple gift you can make or do for someone, or that you have given or done in the past?" The query made me think of Christmas caroling, and I explained to the students that this tradition is a very simple way of sharing a gift with others -- the gift of song. We practice this tradition when we carol for our neighbors at The Hickman every year. And, we share gifts among ourselves during Monday morning Gathering, the monthly Meeting for Singing, concerts . . . anytime we sing together.

With this in mind, I offer you all a simple gift of song and images from the past few months, with a wish for the New Year:

"When the lights all shine,
All around the world, they'll glow,
And all will know,
Our journey to peace has begun."

(You'll want to turn the volume up!)

Resilience

My wife, Melinda, gave a card to me about a year ago with a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”

The card sits on my desk and is a helpful reminder that, when faced with even the most difficult decisions, the answers – or at least the road map that leads to those answers – can be found within ourselves.

I thought of the Emerson quote again earlier this week when John Scardina was speaking at the PTO meeting about raising resilient children. In his usual thoughtful and caring way, John acknowledged the natural inclination that many of us have, when our children are faced with challenges, to tell them what to do or to fix the problem for them. Our actions may be well-intentioned. After all, we want our children to be happy, don’t we? However, our taking care of problems for them can actually have the opposite effect in the long-run, keeping our children from developing the resiliency and skills needed to handle difficult decisions as adults.

So, what should we parents do? John’s advice for raising resilient children has been published twice, first back in February by examiner.com. The December issue of Good Housekeeping magazine includes John’s “Resilience Rules” which can be found on his blog.

Helping students develop resiliency and problem solving skills is something our teachers do every day. At this fall’s Back to School Night I had the pleasure of sitting in T. Claire’s room as the parent of a fourth grader, listening to her speak about the importance of resiliency and describing how her routines and expectations serve to cultivate it in her students. I wasn’t watching the clock, but I believe Claire spent more time speaking about building this and other life skills than she did about math and reading – and that was just fine with me.

When I first came to West Chester Friends School ten years ago, one of the primary draws for me was the quality of the faculty and the strength of the academic program they create. Experiencing the school as a parent, as I have for the past six years, my appreciation continues to grow for the ways that our teachers nurture “what lies within.”