We are getting very excited about next week… 30 strong years and many more to come.
Birthdays are funny things aren’t they. Ask a 7-year-old about their birthday and the eyes light up, ask an impending 70-year-old and their eyes glaze over! They are the kind of milestones that are either filled with a sense of achievement, fulfilment and future hopes or mischance, regret, and foreboding. Sometimes both.
As Shakespeare says though, ‘Aye, there’s the rub!’ Life is filled with these contradictions, and it is these contradictions that often make it so special. Life is not always easy, not always hard, not always fun, not always boring, not always hopeful, not always despondent. But it is always abundant. There is always so much going on. There is always an abundance of something: growth, learning, stumbling, overcoming, tears, joy, sadness, love, hope, the list could go on. It is like King Solomon writes in his ‘memoirs’ in Ecclesiastes 3 if you will:
A Time for Everything
For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.
What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time…
And the more birthdays I have, the more I am convinced he is right. You see, I believe it when Jesus says that he came to us so we could not just have an abundant life, but a more abundant life (John 10:10). I love the idea of more abundance! However, he also warned that life is full of moments where adversaries and adversity can steal this, so we must be intentional to live in the abundance through His love for us and our love for others.
Therefore, regardless of the feelings we may have though, birthdays must be a special part of life. They are the dedicated moments we must make time for to celebrate the invaluable beauty of the person, their unique impact and their powerful journey. We must celebrate; our love for them, their beautiful impact and the wonderful abundance of life that it represents.
This is what we desire for our student to learn and grow in at RCC. We believe that the educational opportunities give our kids the ability to embrace all their learning moments on their journey. Tearing down or building up, planting or harvesting, quiet or busy, we want to enable our students to hold each moment as a precious gift and make the most of it.
This life is short, we can’t let it be stolen by the fake promises of fortune and success. Our students, us too, must live in this abundance we get from God when we realise that our identity lies in him and therefore, we have a purpose that goes beyond the now and a hope that sustains us. When our kids live in this, when we live from this, in these truths, we endure, and no one can steal or destroy the gift of life given to us.
So, let’s celebrate! Join with us as we make time to recognise the abundance and the beauty of RCC’s journey, and while you are at it, why not celebrate and be thankful for yours too…
Good Tidings,
Jonno
