100th Day of School and more!

We celebrated the 100th day of school with the SK girls who came over to serenade "big chapel" with their songs, and the little girls soon to be flowergirls at graduation also got matched up with their big-girl-seniors!
But that's not all! We also continued the celebration of Mary Davis' 100th birthday. Mrs. Shaw introduced this school matriarch to the students recounting Mary's storied life, and she read a proclamation from the governor of Tennessee officially marking Mary's birthday (actually last Thursday) as Mary Davis Day in Tennessee. What a life!

Forgiveness

Mrs. Shari Ray, twelfth grade English teacher and storyteller extraordinaire, retold a story from several years ago in which she met a Holocaust survivor. This elderly woman told her terrible stories to Mrs. Ray at a Passover Seder and yet had a surprisingly joyful demeanor. When asked the secret to her positive outlook, the grandmother told Mrs. Ray that it came from her choice to forgive her enemies.

In today's retelling of this encounter, Mrs. Ray added a coda, describing the joy and delight and dancing by this same older woman at the wedding of her granddaughter. We were all challenged to consider the choices we make: small ones about what to wear, medium decisions about where to go to college, and large choices - character choices - choosing to forgive and to live in joy.

Spilt Milk

It was a Middle School only Chapel today, and the girls were introduced to Christy Beesley, the new Associate for Youth Ministries at CHC.  After sharing a few "random facts" about herself (fave color: yellow), Christy got to the heart of her message: laughter.  She shared a story about her sixth-grade self knocking over a glass of milk during family dinner and actually crying over spilt milk.  Christy told us that her mother's response was to knock over the other five glasses of milk on the table!  Amid laughter and a really big mess, Christy began to get the point.  Life will provide moments for us that are truly challenging, but often times we are just plain taking things (and ourselves) too seriously.  Life is full of joy, and we all ought to laugh much and often ... even laughing at ourselves ... for a better life.

Rejoice with those who are rejoicing

The Rev. Mark Rutenbar, Rector of Church of the Holy Communion, joined the St. Mary's community on Monday and shared a series of stories revealing, perhaps, one of the darker sides of our personalities: the tendency to resent our neighbor's success.  With a Gospel parable and a Jewish folktale illuminating the same message, he encouraged us to resist the temptation to begrudge another person's accomplishments and instead to rise to the occasion to celebrate the joys of our friends and companions.  Students and faculty recognized the reality of his message, and many shared reflections throughout the day that followed about sharing in the happiness of others' good fortune.