{"id":1596,"date":"2022-08-10T15:35:51","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T19:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redchairblogs.wpengine.com\/holymoly\/?p=1596"},"modified":"2022-08-10T15:35:51","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T19:35:51","slug":"blessing-for-a-new-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/2022\/08\/10\/blessing-for-a-new-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessing for a New Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this summer on a blazingly hot weekend morning, my family and I walked to campus so our young boys could ride their bikes around the Dell. To my kids, campus is the best playground. We essentially had the entire campus to ourselves. We ran around Shellenberger field, walked the endless sidewalks, ate snacks under the shade of some trees, avoided being pelted by those huge summer beetles flying around, and eventually found ourselves outside of Drysdale near the water feature and splash pad.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My boys found this absolutely mesmerizing. Timid at first, they only walked around the edge, letting their hands occasionally get wet. After some persistent coaxing (thanks to my bravery of running through it first), they started playing through the splash pad as they tried their best not to get drenched by the surprise fountains. Those timid first minutes turned into an hour and a half, soaked not only in water, but also laughter and shouts of joy.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we begin another academic year, as the busyness of the fall rushes upon us, as we frantically plan because we didn\u2019t plan earlier enough, may we all pause to see this place the way my kids see it: a magical place filled with adventure, excitement, and almost always the place where they can get a free snow cone (or t-shirt) once in a while.<\/span><\/p>\n

We speak of how quickly the semester goes by – so before it does, I encourage you to remember the magic, the adventure, and the wonder of this place that we call the University of Lynchburg.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And so with that, a short blessing for us as we begin another year together:<\/span><\/p>\n

May you know you are so much more than what you do, but what you do matters on this campus because you play a role in making it magical.<\/span><\/p>\n

May you see the sacredness within each person on campus, knowing that as you look upon them you just might be getting a glimpse of the divine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

May you realize we all carry secret and heavy burdens, so take care of one another and go easy on yourself.<\/span><\/p>\n

May you experience the beauty of community, the depth of joy, and the freedom of grace and always be willing to offer the same to others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And as you serve our campus, cherish your colleagues, live your values, and pursue your purpose, may you boldly proclaim (in a Scottish accent) \u201cIt\u2019s a great day to be a Hornet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this summer on a blazingly hot weekend morning, my family and I walked to campus so our young boys could ride their bikes around the Dell. To my kids, campus is the best playground. We essentially had the entire …<\/p>\n

Blessing for a New Year<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nathan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1QIf6-pK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}