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Focus on what we can resolve
31st March 2023
As we reach the end of another term, the Easter holiday beckons. Spring has finally arrived, with the daffodils out and the trees in blossom. This feels like the perfect time for an article about hope, new life and renewal.
Of course, there is something special about the Easter holiday. While not as long as the summer, and perhaps less exciting than Christmas, there is something refreshing about this time of year – the return of longer-days, the ability to get outside and enjoy the sunshine, and schools grounds, gardens and parks filling back up with colour and fragrance. The coming weeks will be a well earned opportunity for most of us (let us not forget the SBMs, caretakers and other staff who will be working hard over Easter) to relax, recharge and to enjoy time with friends and family.
However, I’m acutely aware that this sort of message doesn’t always ‘hit the mark’. It sometimes jars with us, because the reality of our experiences are not so neat and tidy. Watching the news clearly shows us that we live in a world with huge problems; many of us journey with friends and family facing personal difficulty; we all know the challenges that we face trying to meet the needs of all the children in our schools with limited resources. Sometimes these negative experiences can seem overwhelming, and unlikely to be addressed by a short break and the arrival of spring.
It may be helpful to refer back to the Easter story, which when viewed in full, addresses this wider range of emotions. We typically see the Easter story as Christians celebrating Jesus rising from the dead – a story of hope and renewal. But this is just part of a wider narrative – the lead-up to this event certainly didn’t feel positive for those involved. Good Friday saw Jesus choosing to pay the ultimate sacrifice, being executed to pay the penalty for others. Having failed to understand what he had done, Holy Saturday was a time of despair for Jesus’ followers – having committed their lives to follow a man that they believed to be a conquering hero who would liberate his nation, their hopes and dreams seemed to have been dashed. Perhaps this unfairness, hopelessness and despair can resonate with the more difficult realities that we face at times.
Jesus’ followers didn’t know it at the time, but Easter Sunday was only a day away; the situation would soon be turned on its head. Not the way they expected, and it wasn’t an end to all their troubles, but it transformed their outlook and brought them hope.
Perhaps this can inspire us that there is hope, even when things feel overwhelmingly difficult? If we focus not on the scale of the problems, but instead on the things that we can resolve; the actions that we can take; the colleagues that we can encourage, we may find that hope and solutions are closer than we realise.
Thank you all for the dedication and passion that you bring to our school communities – have a restful and enjoyable Easter break.
As we reach the end of another term, the Easter holiday beckons. Spring has finally arrived, with the daffodils out and the trees in blossom. This feels like the perfect time for an article about hope, new life and renewal.
Of course, there is something special about the Easter holiday. While not as long as the summer, and perhaps less exciting than Christmas, there is something refreshing about this time of year – the return of longer-days, the ability to get outside and enjoy the sunshine, and schools grounds, gardens and parks filling back up with colour and fragrance. The coming weeks will be a well earned opportunity for most of us (let us not forget the SBMs, caretakers and other staff who will be working hard over Easter) to relax, recharge and to enjoy time with friends and family.
However, I’m acutely aware that this sort of message doesn’t always ‘hit the mark’. It sometimes jars with us, because the reality of our experiences are not so neat and tidy. Watching the news clearly shows us that we live in a world with huge problems; many of us journey with friends and family facing personal difficulty; we all know the challenges that we face trying to meet the needs of all the children in our schools with limited resources. Sometimes these negative experiences can seem overwhelming, and unlikely to be addressed by a short break and the arrival of spring.
It may be helpful to refer back to the Easter story, which when viewed in full, addresses this wider range of emotions. We typically see the Easter story as Christians celebrating Jesus rising from the dead – a story of hope and renewal. But this is just part of a wider narrative – the lead-up to this event certainly didn’t feel positive for those involved. Good Friday saw Jesus choosing to pay the ultimate sacrifice, being executed to pay the penalty for others. Having failed to understand what he had done, Holy Saturday was a time of despair for Jesus’ followers – having committed their lives to follow a man that they believed to be a conquering hero who would liberate his nation, their hopes and dreams seemed to have been dashed. Perhaps this unfairness, hopelessness and despair can resonate with the more difficult realities that we face at times.
Jesus’ followers didn’t know it at the time, but Easter Sunday was only a day away; the situation would soon be turned on its head. Not the way they expected, and it wasn’t an end to all their troubles, but it transformed their outlook and brought them hope.
Perhaps this can inspire us that there is hope, even when things feel overwhelmingly difficult? If we focus not on the scale of the problems, but instead on the things that we can resolve; the actions that we can take; the colleagues that we can encourage, we may find that hope and solutions are closer than we realise.
Thank you all for the dedication and passion that you bring to our school communities – have a restful and enjoyable Easter break.
