Date: July 8, 2025
Another glorious summer! Time to rest, play and rejuvenate. Perhaps you will spend time with friends and family and summer travel or simply enjoy quiet days of silence where you reacquaint yourself with the things that bring you joy. However you spend your time, I hope that there is much love and lots of laughter! Laughter is the music of the soul.
This summer I am reading some poetry by Irish poet John O’Donohue. I find his writings are filled with messages of peace, healing and acceptance. I am especially enjoying To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessing. It is a reminder of the preciousness of life and to live it fearlessly. This past year, we are so proud to have had a record number of employees begin their higher education pursuits, fearlessly. The Seminary generously supports all employees seeking various certifications, associates, bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. In FY2025, we had twelve employees enrolled in various in-person, hybrid or online programs at prestigious institutions – Boston University, George Mason University, Howard University, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Vanderbilt University just to name a few. We are so proud of our employees and wish them much success in achieving their goals. Dreams are being realized and VTS is thrilled to be a part of the JOY.
So, as some of us are taking summer classes and balancing work and life, we all need to remember to take a bit of time for rest. The new academic year will be starting again very soon, and the campus will be all abuzz. So, let us all enjoy the slower pace of summer. Be gentle with ourselves as we balance the important things in life.
As we enter a new week, I offer you this:
May I have the courage today to live the life that I would love, to postpone my dream no longer but do at last what I came here for and waste my heart on fear no more.
~John O’Donohue~
Happy Summer!
Jacqui Ballou
Senior Vice President for Finance, Administration and Operations