This morning I woke up to a report in Ed Week that “Teachers Are More Likely to Experience Depression Symptoms Than Other Adults.” These survey results gave me pause as I think about my profession, my colleagues, and my friends. If you’ve been reading the newsletter for the last few months and noticed the embedded encouragement to Mourn, Repent, Rejoice, Wait, and Celebrate, you’ll find this month’s theme of Rest equally as important.
I offer two pieces of encouragement. First, from Psalm 23: 1-2: the Lord brings us to places of necessary and requisite rest and rejuvenation:
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me beside quiet waters.
We need time to rest, to play, to be outside in the amazing world God made. In a somewhat nostalgic way, I’m reminded of my favorite summertime poem—“June” by John Updike:
The sun is rich,
And gladly pays
In golden hours,
Silver days,
And long green weeks
That never end.
School’s out. The time
Is ours to spend.
The playground calls,
The ice-cream man,
And, after supper,
Kick-the-can.
The live-long light
Is like a dream,
And freckles come
Like flies to cream.
Second, take this time of rest to reconnect. We’ll share more in coming months about identity and belonging, concepts so pressing and precious to us in our work. But for now, take the opportunity to reconnect with family, friends, neighbors, ideas, nature, and mostly our Lord. The ways that CACE seeks to connect new friends and new ideas seem to grow with each month, but here are some resources and events to check out during your times of rest:
