Welcome to the last Prescott Primary Northern Newsletter for 2021. For some of our families this will be their final Prescott Primary Northern newsletter ever. We would like to wish those families who will not be with us in 2022, God’s richest blessings and we are so glad we were able to travel this journey of life with you for a while, at least.

It has been another topsy turvy year with all sorts of things thrown our way in life, but we have been able to make the best of it as a school. We have been through another brief season of lockdown, restrictions around camps, excursions, volunteers and access to campus, and mandated vaccinations for workers and volunteers in a school setting is on its way. We still have many challenges ahead. It is often our first reaction in times of uncertainty to look for the problems, complexities and difficulties, but I would like to encourage you, and myself, to look for things that we can be grateful for. You may say I am being blindly optimistic and kidding myself, but the research is on my side if we are to be able to live in our best mental health. I read an article the other day that confirmed the importance of living life with an inclination to gratitude. It said, “Medical studies confirm the link between gratitude and mental health. When test subjects wrote down three good things (Seligman et al., 2005), kept a gratitude journal (Kerr, O’Donovan, & Pepping, 2014), or wrote letters of gratitude to other people (Toepfer et al., 2012) all demonstrated improvements in levels of anxiety, depression, and life satisfaction.” (Theology of Work Project, 2021)

The Bible suggests we do something similar in Phillipians 4:8,9, “If there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8–9)

How can we practice gratitude in our everyday lives? Here are four suggestions. 1. Notice something good three times a day. 2. Find gratitude in something hard 3. Thank another person.  4. Replacing the urge to compare, with gratitude for what you have right now. (Theology of Work Project, 2021)

Why should we practice in our everyday lives? Because I firmly believe it changes where we look and what we look at. For any who have ridden a bike, and even driven a car, you will know the truth of the saying, “You will go to where you look.” The same holds true for gratitude. If that is what we are looking for, that is where we will go in our thoughts and attitude.

I love this saying from Alphonse Karr, “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses.”

I would encourage you this Christmas break to be thankful. Thankful for the amazing blessings we do have in this city, state and country. For us to be thankful for the incredible blessings we have in being a part of the Prescott Primary Northern family. There will be many things that we can find that will annoy us, or not be exactly as we would prefer. However, I would encourage us to live a life of gratitude for the many amazing blessings we do have, and I think that will put our minds and lives in a far better place.

Have an absolutely wonderful break with your kids, a blessed Christmas, and I look forward to seeing you again ready for another year of gratitude in 2022.

Mark B