It is a blessing to look around the school and see our students continue to be so engaged with life and all it has to offer at the moment.
The athletics carnival was an amazing experience. To see all our students constantly giving their best was marvellous. 37 records were broken – what an amazing effort! What was more wonderful though, was the spirit of encouragement that pervaded the day. The way friends continually supported each other to give all they could and to do their best was incredible.
The beauty though is that this attitude was not limited to our Athletics carnival. As I watched the winners of the RCC Photography and Art competition be crowned or the Olympic House competition in action I saw the same spirit in our students. They were legitimately happy for their friends – congratulating and celebrating each other’s effort. Brilliant.
It is often humbling to be around children as they so easily live in truth and remind us of what is important in life; to be a community that genuinely looks beyond ourselves and encourages one another no matter what is going on around us.
The prefix ‘En’ means ‘to cause to’. Courage is defined as the ability to do something that is scary, painful or intimidating – the very opposite of cowardice, timidity, and ineffectuality. When we encourage someone, we cause them to face their fears, to face intimidation, to do hard things, to continue the journey.
What a powerful notion. A community that seeks to encourage others is a community that overcomes, and this is what I am continually inspired by in our students.
It then becomes critical for us to be model encouragers - each other’s greatest fans. As Aussies I think we can find this very difficult, but it is so empowering when we know people are in our corner, wanting us to succeed.
To do this in such a time can be quite difficult when perhaps what we know and fear corrupts our good intentions. Hence it is important to recognise that our strength comes from someone greater.
In the Bible we see moments where, when people encounter God, they become courageous to be who God created them to be. We all know the stories: Daniel faces the lions and becomes one of God’s greatest and most fearless prophets; Gideon goes from coward to one of God’s greatest warriors; David faces the giant and becomes God’s king. The list could go on.
In a world that is so uncertain, affording so many reasons to be faint hearted, our encounters must lead to encouragement. Encouragement to be who God has made us to be. Encouragement to look after those around us in need. Encouragement to have the faith that enables us to continue to learn and to grow to become who He purposed us to be.
We must persist amidst the uncertainty. We must be our children’s greatest fans – their greatest enablers of a life of purpose, hope and courage.
Join us.
Good Tidings!
Jonno
