Term 4 Already…

Term 4 already! I have heard a few parents and staff members make this comment in our community over the first few days, all with a sense that time is moving quickly.

Like the wind that was howling last week, we seemed to be pushed relentlessly towards the next day and the next week, perhaps never quite completing the tasks on our To Do Lists.

Term 4 itself is a fast-moving series of concluding and celebratory events. Our Year 11 and 12 students have only three weeks before their study break and exams take over. The Year 12s will soon be concluding their school education. Our Year 10 students are not far behind with their own exams and work experience. And our Year 6 students are looking towards their own next step into secondary education.

“Do I strive to keep up with the front runners and run the risk of burning out, or do I aim to maintain a steady pace and run my own race?”

It is easy to see why the writer of the Book of Hebrews used the analogy of a race when describing faith and life. Whilst my own experience of running an athletic race was many decades ago, I did try a parkrun in Sydney. With hundreds of people lined up at the start and taking off at a gallop, it can be hard to measure your own pace. Do I strive to keep up with the front runners and run the risk of burning out, or do I aim to maintain a steady pace and run my own race?

These are relevant questions for our own end of year as we get caught up in the busyness of life. Are we getting caught up in the mad rush or are we maintaining our own pace? It requires knowing ourselves and our own limits but also requires a sense of the resources and support that we have around us.

For our students, there can sometimes be a sense that it is out of their control, that they are just caught up in the race to exams or end of year. It is much better if they can be aware of their own capacity which includes a right view of themselves in relationship to God. As the author of Hebrews encourages us: ‘…let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith’.

Scott Ambrose - Principal