Avoiding Stagnation June 4th, 2012

At Dundas Calvin Christian School we hold various conversations with our students and aim to shape their character.  We try to work with our students and parents in community so we can have conversations about their behavior and efforts in the classroom.  We want to avoid, if at all possible, stagnation and complacency at a young age.  In John Ortberg’s book If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get out of the Boat he discusses stagnation in what Gregg Levoy calls “the common cold of the soul.”  Levoy says stagnation leads:

To sinful patterns of behavior that never get confronted and changed,

Abilities and gifts that never get cultivated and deployed—

Until weeks become months

And months turn into years,

And one day you’re looking back on a life of

Deep intimate gut-wrenchingly honest conversations you never had;

Great bold prayers you never prayed,

Exhilarating risks you never took,

Sacrificial gifts you never offered,

Lives you never touched,

And you’re sitting in a recliner with a shrivelled soul,

And forgotten dreams,

And you realize there was a world of desperate need,

And a great God calling you to be part of something bigger than yourself—

You see the person you could have become but did not;

You never followed your calling.

You never got out of the boat

We want to prepare our students to get out of the boat.  We want to have those conversations and pray those bold prayers so they can take appropriate risks and follow their calling.  We pray for our students and their families in the staffroom each week and we long to remain a positive impact on the lives of our students.  Thank you for partnering with us as we aim to promote the character of Christ to our children.