Chaplain's Message

Smart Pandas Adapt to Survive and Thrive!

I have had cause to reflect this week on pandas - wonderful creatures who have adapted over time to managing to draw enough protein from bamboo, which incidentally is generally low in protein, to sustain them and to ensure that as a herbivore, they actually have as much protein in their systems as many carnivores. They manage this by moving up and down the feeding area according to the growth and production of the plants to gain the most protein during each stage of the plant development. 

I find this capacity to adapt, fascinating and inspiring. It's believed that in those early years they started eating bamboo because other animals didn't and so were not competing for food!

As humans we tend to want to go back to the way 'it's always' been, to the comfortable and familiar even when it becomes uncomfortable and unproductive. Made in the image of God, we have within us the same creative spirit that brings new things into being. The same adaptive spirit that sends little pandas up and down mountains, without being told, to find enough protein in their food to survive and thrive. 

We are surrounded by incredible people who ARE willing to step out of the box - to do and create extraordinary things, to challenge the status quo, to make a better world! Never more in our history has the need for Godly creativity been more vital. In our own little worlds, how can we do things differently to bring back the desire for enough 'protein' to feed our spiritual selves - so we and those around us may grow and thrive in goodness, truth, justice and love. 

~ Pastor Sarah Pollitt

   College Chaplain