Holiday Joy and Faith
By Head of School Michael Dewey
There is nothing quite like working in a Christian school during the holidays. In the thirty years that I have been involved with schools in both Virginia and Texas, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are always filled with joy and anticipation, with something festive happening every day. There are dress-up days, class competitions, concerts and plays, and enough sugary goodies to ensure that every student is bursting with energy. While this tends to make our job as educators more difficult—try teaching calculus when students are bouncing off the walls—it’s actually one of my favorite times of the year. While it may be true that all school-age children share this same experience, there is an added sense of wonder around students who know and love the Lord. And when you have a whole building filled with such students, the embers of my own faith tend to burn all the brighter. This is the time of year that we celebrate the birth of the one who came to seek and save the lost. And while it may technically be Jesus’ birthday, for all those who are born again, in a very real sense it is their birthday as well—and I am amazed at how eagerly our students want to share that joy with as many as possible.
As such, this special holiday edition of the Eagle’s View is chock-full of all the fun activities that we have seen over the past four to six weeks of school. In fact, I can almost guarantee that our next edition will contain a few leftover activities we couldn’t fit into this newsletter. But what I want you to notice that is different about Evergreen students, is that even in the midst of such an exciting time of the year, our students are still learning how to better live out their faith in the world around them and share it with others. Whether it is through a student-initiated food drive, building a life-size nativity scene, or taking a trip over to Baltimore to help process thousands of Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes, ECS students have a different focus than what you might find in other schools. These young men and women are serious about their faith. They have come to Evergreen not just because they want to be surrounded by like-minded students—and experience all the joyful fellowship that comes along with that—but because they want to be trained in righteousness and thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:17).
A few weeks ago, I was mingling with students who were spending time together in our student lounge. Some were reading and doing homework, others were catching up with friends or talking about the big game the night before, and yes, even a few were quietly resting their eyes as they listened to music. Hey, being a student is hard work! But as I was asking students what they have been up to and what they looked forward to most about the upcoming holiday, I learned that a group of our students have been getting together on weekends to do street evangelism in Loudoun County. Knowing our students, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised, but I found myself a little speechless. These students not only continue to impress me—they inspire me!
And so yes, this is my favorite time of the school year. Not because I look forward to the break as much as the students, or because I end up gaining about ten pounds due to all the Christmas cookies, peanut butter balls, and candy canes. That last part is what I actually like the least! No, this is my favorite time of the year because when I see the heightened sense of enthusiasm from our students—especially as it is focused on the true meaning of the season—it causes me to be filled with the same sense of wonder and enthusiasm. It reminds me that while we educators spend a great deal of time pouring into our students, they also pour into us. And for that I feel abundantly blessed.