FROM OUR CHAPLAIN

As a Chaplain, we have opportunities that create blessings for everyone on their special occasions.  Last week, this unique style of communal blessing occurred for our Year 5 students’ Grandparents’ and Friends’ Day.

For those in our community who weren’t able to make this special occasion, I am sharing the blessing in this article so that you can feel included and be aware of the special place you hold in our student’s hearts.

“We have been talking to the students this Term about legacy and I notice in the Collins Dictionary that it can mean something handed down or received from an ancestor or predecessor.

As Grandparents and friends of our Year 5s here today, I wonder what you think your legacy is, that is your legacy that your grandchildren are carrying.  I can see loving, warm, bright, intelligent students all eager to enter Year 6 next year as they journey through their education years.

I wonder where you think their big smiles come from.  It is you.  Their diligence in behaviour, studious academics and their brightness to see and make the world a better place, all come from you, sitting before us now and some not able to be with us.

I want you for a minute, to close your eyes and remember the first time you placed your grandchild here in your arms, may have even placed them on your hands the first time, remember that first touch, that feeling of love and warmth that you felt when they were first placed with you by their mum or dad.  Now open your eyes.  That little bundle of warmth is here today and we are all celebrating you and all the legacy that you have given them.

I remember a psychologist at my last school sharing with us that the only way a baby knows how to smile is by the repetition of the mother’s or father’s smiling down at them in their first few years of life.  You have all been that model of sharing your smiles for your grandchildren’s growth.  I want you to watch this video for a minute:

This little girl reminds me of the joy of being a grandparent.  Her growth is because her grandparents and friends loved her so much, she could give back on this auspicious wedding occasion.  She overflowed with love for her grandparent and this is why we celebrate you here today.

Our students are who they are because of you and the way you have grown your legacy within them.

The one thing I want to leave you with is this – thank you for sharing your legacy with your grandchildren and friends, with us, thank you for trusting our College with your legacy – to trust us so much for so many years in their education journey is an honour and a privilege that we don’t take lightly.

Thank you, and bless you.

Amen.

Rev Grace Reynolds
Chaplain