Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials... testing produces perseverance. James 1:2-3

Greetings,

Having received some positive feedback from the address I gave at the Academic Awards Assembly last week, I thought I would share it as this week’s Tidings address for those who were not able to make the event. My desire is to continue to encourage us as a learning community to realise that learning and growth is a journey that we only truly succeed in when we walk it together in the light of who God is and what he promises us…

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At the start of the year, who can remind me of what I shared?

We talked about some big, almost impossible dreams. I shared a story about researchers at the University of Tokyo who have been working since 2003 on creating real-life invisibility cloaks using special "metamaterials".

What struck me wasn't just the sci-fi concept of turning invisible, but the fact that they spent over 20 years failing, adjusting, and trying again to achieve something that seemed completely impossible.

Now, this is going back - who can remember what I said at the beginning of the year before?

Yes, my skiing confession, where I tried to carve up fresh mountain powder and ended up giving a masterclass in crashing into snowdrifts, rocks, small children and how to manage bruised ribs and pride muscles.

There seems to be a pattern here doesn’t there. Whether we are talking about high-tech scientists or a principal tumbling down a ski slope, the lesson is the same: facing resistance, failing, or needing help along the way does not make you a failure, it makes you human. In fact, it makes you the brave kind of human who is willing to step out of their comfort zones to enjoy, experience, improve and achieve.

Today, as we celebrate some success, I know it can trigger a whole mix of emotions. Some of you are celebrating fantastic results, while others might feel like you just took a spill on the ski slope or hit a wall with a hard subject. And that’s okay… both are okay. Why?

As I was thinking on what to say today, I realised that it’s not that much different to the students who went to basketball in Port Macquarie. Do you know that 2 of our teams won the whole thing, congratulations to primary and senior girls, junior girls came third, the junior boys lost by a point in the semi-final, and the senior boys in the final – and for two boys it was their last game for RCC - lost the final by a point! How heartbreaking! How awesome! Why?

I wonder, if I asked you, for the teams who didn’t win, does it make them a failure? Of course not, and I won’t even joke about it. They may not have achieved their goal and failed in their overall pursuit of winning the whole thing, but it does not make them a failure. No more than it made me a failure when I fell in skiing, or the scientist a failure when his experiment didn’t work.

Failing does not make you a failure. Failing is a form of feedback that provides you an insight: it might be how not to fall down, how to get back up, or how to keep going. We should not fear trying and failing; it takes us a step closer to being invisible, winning, or even skiing! We should be more scared of not trying and never knowing how to get better, how to grow…

It’s like this for our study in class too. We have to keep playing, trying, to get better: whether it’s fractions, nominalisation, drawing, singing or running. Whether its As, Bs, Cs, Ds or Es, just like for our kids who played basketball who won and lost, the main thing is, they played, worked hard and tried. It’s okay if you don’t achieve the dream the first time. It’s okay not to win. In fact, winning is rarely, if ever, the final step either, it’s just another moment in getting better too.

A report card or a result isn't a final verdict on who you are; it is simply a tool, a compass check along your learning journey to show you where you are flourishing and where you might need to adjust your direction. Just like the result at an eisteddfod, the feedback from critics after a performance, or the result in a final. These are moments that give us feedback on our journey towards becoming who God has made us to be and living the full life he has blessed us to live with Him and others.

In James, scripture takes this idea one step further and says that facing difficulties produces endurance and builds deep character, so we should be joyous in the face of failure and difficulty and trial, because it helps us develop where it really matters, it helps us to live life to its fullest potential!

At RCC we do this together, supporting one another to get back up and keep on keeping on. God has placed you in this RCC community with a team of teachers, staff, parents, and classmates who are in your corner, ready to guide you, support you, and celebrate every step of progress you make.

So, whether this past semester was a smooth run down the mountain or a season of picking yourself up off the ground, my encouragement is the same: pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep going together with joy, hope and encouragement.

Good Tidings!

Jonno

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