As we look toward the end of the year and the Christmas season, there is a sense of hope and anticipation in the air. We are all looking forward to a time of rest, celebration and new beginnings next year. I have been reading a lot about “hope” recently as I am increasingly convinced that in an era of heightened instability and concern about the future, young people desperately need a deep and enduring sense of hope.

Recently, a few Meriden staff attended a lecture by Clinical Psychologist, Mrs Leisa Aitken, about the importance of hope. Mrs Aitken suggests that there are three aspects of hope:

• Agency (behaviour enacting hope, one’s own and that of others)
• Belief in a future with meaningful possibilities (a foundational worldview)
• Glimpses to generate feelings of hopefulness (an emotion)

Much of what we do at Meriden is dedicated to instilling hope in the young people under our care, both on an individual and collective level. We want the girls to be filled with a sense of possibility, to imagine how they might contribute to the meaningful possibilities in our world, to enact justice and to live a life of love and forgiveness.

As the girls finish another school year, we pray they are filled with hope. As they reflect on the year that has passed, we want them to be able to recognise how they have grown and changed despite obstacles along the way. As they think about the new year, we want them to be filled with a sense of the possibilities that await them. As they reflect on the Christmas story, we hope they can see the significance of God’s intervention in a broken world, sending His son to be light in the darkness.

May you all glimpse the eternal hope we have this Christmas.

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.” – John 1:9