19 Sept 2020

Last weekend I heard some principals from our church schools, talking about the impact of Coronavirus on their schools. When describing the confusion and rapidly changing landscape they were faced with in those early weeks, the one thing they said quite emphatically was that they just went back to their core values.

My thought was that it’s fortunate that they probably had their core values nearly itemised so they could easily refer to it.

I’ve never begun to consider what would be on my list, until today 🙂

In no particular order, and with no definite logic or a lot of thought, my core values could possibly be:

1. If you haven’t got something nice to say, say nothing. If you grew up like me, you probably heard your mother saying this to you quite frequently. It doesn’t mean that you can’t state your opinion if your opinion differs from others, it means don’t be deliberately nasty.

2. If you can make someone smile, do it.

3. Hospitality – always be ready to offer a cup of coffee. An Aunty once told me if you have unexpected guests, quickly drag the vacuum cleaner out and put the chairs up on the table to let them think you are just starting to do a major clean. People visiting me are more than welcome to join me in a cup of coffee or bottle of wine, comfortable in the knowledge that the more wine I pour down your throat, the less you will notice the cleanliness – or lack thereof – of my house.

4. Creativity – find an outlet for your well hidden inner artist, whether it’s by photography, writing, gardening or painting the Sistine Chapel. Actually scratch that – they would probably take offence if you headed into the real Sistine Chapel with a bucket of paint.

5. Provide support where you can and where you can. To whomever you can.

6. Cleanliness is next to Godliness – only joking. That’s never been in my radar 🙂

7. Open-mindedness: don’t be Judgey McJudgeface. But if you are, I won’t judge you.

8. Honesty – is the best policy. Unless it’s about how many coffees or chocolate biscuits I’ve had today.