Encountering Challenges

‘I enjoyed it’, ‘it is hard’, ‘I don’t want to run’, ‘I wish we could do two laps like the Year 1s’.  These were all statements that I heard from our cross-country runners over the last couple of weeks. 

All the way from Kinder up to Year 12, our students have been running (or a combination of walking and running), as they took part in what can be a very challenging event.

For some, running is a real joy and something they look forward to. For others, it stretches them in ways that they do not like or feel comfortable with. For those who are experienced runners or athletes, you know that there are points when you stretch yourself, when things can feel hard. Unless we are particularly committed or have a determination to succeed, this can be the point that we give up. Alternatively, it can be the point where we experience the feeling of success that comes from completing something that was hard; the point at which we extend our sense of what we can accomplish, when we grow in our capacity.

“For those who are experienced runners or athletes, you know that there are points when you stretch yourself, when things can feel hard.”

So often when we encounter challenges, we consider them from the point of view of our weaknesses. ‘I can’t do that’, ‘it is too hard’, and we admire those who seem undaunted by odds and ask questions like ‘how will I do that’, ‘what help will I need?’, or like that young child in Prep said: ‘I wish we could do two laps like the Year 1s’. 

Seeking opportunities to grow and embracing a joy of learning are important dispositions, not only for our children but for ourselves. Time-and-again, God has to remind His people through Scripture not to respond out of a sense of fear and a limited view of what is possible. Rather He encourages them to remember the possibilities when He is near. In Hebrews 13:5-6, we are reminded ‘…because God has said,

‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’

So, we say with confidence,

                  ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?’

As parents and educators, we seek to build our children’s love of learning and embracing of challenge, knowing that the God who created them has given them capacity for far more than they may even know and have considered.

Scott Ambrose - Principal