Dispatch from the Ozarks: The Calm and the Storm

The Pre-Orientation Ruminations of a Humble Chaplain

Down the hall from my office in the lower level of the campus chapel is an expanse of concrete floor, peppered with bits and pieces of rubble and threads of old carpet.  For over twenty-five years, the concrete has been blanketed by a sea of dark turquoise wall-to-wall carpeting.  In the span of those years, that carpet has held steadfast under the anxiously pacing feet of graduating seniors preparing for baccalaureate services; the feverish swirling and twirling of blushing brides and busy bridesmaids in heaps of taffeta, lace, and velvet; the scrambling sneakers and snapping flip-flops of thousands of students gathering for prayer services, potluck fellowships, movie nights, and classes.  It has withstood the tests of many floods, held together when the dragging of furniture has threatened to tear it asunder, and endured the vigors of vacuuming and high-concentrate shampooing.  After all of this, at last, the time for change has come: shiny new floor tile—light, less ponderous, and much easier to clean—is being measured, cut, and installed as I type.  

As I prepare for the arrival of new students to campus, and look forward to welcoming the “old” ones back, I can’t help but think about the importance of a good foundation.  Our first-year students are daring to tread new ground by engaging the college experience and newfound independence.  For some, this will be exciting and fun; for others, frightening and threatening; and for most, all of those things combined.  They will choose to walk many different paths as they seek to understand who they are as individuals, and how to live in community.  There will be bumps, bruises, and bad choices in the process.  Taking up the carpet of the past, so to speak, and laying the “new tile” of the college experience can produce tremendous growth, but can also induce a profound sense of trauma.  My prayer this year, as it is every year, is that the foundations on which students lay the tiles of new experiences are as firm, trustworthy, and receptive as our trusty chapel basement flooring has proven itself to be.  Should they not be so firm, however, there is no need to panic,--the “spackle” of God’s grace and mercy is always at hand!

Nancy J. Benson-Nicol is the University Chaplain at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, AR.  Now a "rising senior," she begins her fourth year in ministry at Ozarks.