edu180atl: rebekah hatch 12.4.12
Spending my days as a school chaplain means that, perhaps more than most, I straddle time in a way that isn’t just marked by dates and days. From my vantage point, today falls within the first week of Advent – a season of the church year that marks the beginning of the Episcopal church calendar. Some days it’s Tuesday; some days it’s the third day of Advent.
Someone recently reminded me that time is relative, like that, for each of us. Each of our stories, our life experiences, brings to bear a distinct definition of time. For you, perhaps, today is the day your teaching load is heaviest. The day before “Hump Day”. A birthday. The anniversary of a death, or a wedding. Four days before a big game. Two days away from a terrible game. Your life brings to bear meaning to this day – different than any other day that has been; different than any other day that is to come.
It seems that day after day, that’s the lesson. It’s never just Tuesday – there’s always a story, a deeper meaning, a different perspective. Teachers, in the many forms we come, on our best days, are tuned in to that undercurrent….or, at least we should be. Our colleagues, our students, each person we encounter, show up with some meaning for the day. On a good day, I honor that the best I can. Your story for this day; a meaning-full lesson.
About the Author: The Rev. Rebekah Hatch is Chaplain at St. Benedict’s Episcopal Day School in Smyrna, and on a good day, is listening to stories…and really hearing them.