The level of activity around Stones River Manor these days has been at almost a fever pitch. The Ribbon-Cutting and Open House Celebration for our new Advanced Care and Assured Care Center was held just a couple of weeks ago and preparations for the event required much hard work and many long hours. Our folks came together wholeheartedly to make the occasion one of the most memorable in our long, forty-one year history.
Leading up to this event, our staff and residents have had numerous conversations about the many tasks that had to be completed, and just what role each of us could play in making sure everything got done to make the day a big success. What appeared to be, at times, nothing short of pandemonium, in the end produced a wonderful event and is certain to be a place we can all be very proud of.
Going back to the early stages of planning, one of the great challenges for this beautiful new facility was to blend the old with the new. Stones River Manor was Murfreesboro’s first senior living community, and we often say that we may be the oldest in town but we don’t want to look like it. So, we try to spruce things up and keep it looking as fresh and new as possible. Blending the new architecture with the old, the new furniture with the old, new furnishings with old, new policies and procedures with old, new people with the old………well, you get the idea.
We are now on the brink of a new era in the history of the Manor, one which brings the old together with the new and which completes our mission: that Stones River Manor is “the active demonstration of the Christian concern for the care of the elderly.”
As you walk through the hallways and look into the offices, you’ll see the evidence of old and new, beautifully brought together. The staff, of course, will be putting their own personal touch into their work areas, the residents will bring personal items of their own to their new rooms, and, very soon, you will begin to see this new Stones River Manor become our home, just as surely as the old Manor is home to us now.
In the thirteenth chapter of his gospel, Matthew relates several of the parables of Jesus, and sums them up with this beautiful sentiment, which only the Lord could have said so eloquently, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” One of our family members said to me, as we were conducting our orientation of the new Assured Care Center, “You are truly doing God’s work here at Stones River Manor.”
That is our mission. It is humbling to hear it expressed so succinctly, and stands as a challenge to each of us. We are not perfect and we’ll stumble now and then; but we love our residents, we love each other, and we love our Lord. I pray that we will always keep that thought foremost in our minds and hearts…… we are doing God’s work here at Stones River Manor.
God’s work is a team effort. We will work together with our residents and families, with our staff, our board, our ladies auxiliary and our community. We will continue to help one another and listen to each other. We are truly blessed.
Kirkland A. Mason
CEO
