Dear Evergreen Families, 

I regularly sit out on my back deck and stare out at the garden. On some days, the wind makes it quite a kinetic scene. Tall grasses dance energetically while sunflowers make dramatic swoops back and forth. Other days, the wind is calm and the drone of cicadas fills the air. All the same, the garden is active.

It’s a joy to witness the different species of bees buzzing from flower to flower, hovering within sight before heading to their next destination. The bumblebees excite me most with their orange, pollen-filled pockets as they make a pitstop into the cavernous flower of a squash plant. 

There are, of course, numerous parallels to be drawn here in reference to the Lord, our master gardener, and us, His children. I don’t mean to diminish those beautiful analogies. Lately, however, another connection comes to mind while I look out from my perch: our school. After summer months of sitting in a quiet school, reconfiguring spreadsheets, and sending emails, it is nothing short of a pleasure to witness our classrooms, hallways, and playground alive with the buzz of students again. We are getting into the swing of things at Evergreen and the whirr of energy is already different than it was on days one, two, or three. It’s now moving towards the steady, wonderful hum of students tucking into their newly-picked novel, their freshly inspired narrative, or the latest challenging math equation. Perhaps it’s the teachers, in this case, who are the gardeners...offering up to the bumblebees an array of sweet problems, prompts, and facts in which to dive headfirst! 

Join me in reveling in this scene. Picture your own child leaning into something new and finding the learning satisfying. Now imagine him or her carrying it along and spreading the goodness of that learning everywhere he or she goes. What a gift. What a joy. We are grateful for the garden that is GRCES-Evergreen.