A HIGHER HOPE | FEBRUARY
Frogs, Fish & Water
Have you heard the fable about the frog, hopping around the kitchen and into a pot which has recently been placed on the stove. The water is nice, a comfortable tepid temperature, and the frog swims around in the pot. The frog could easily hop out again, but just keeps swimming around, enjoying the water which slowly warms up. The water eventually rises to the boil and the frog is boiled to its death.
Or have you heard the saying: ‘If you want to know about the water, don’t ask the fish.’ This makes you wonder: Can the fish know the difference between the water it is swimming in and any other body of water? Both the frog and the fish are in environments that are affecting them – you could say cultures that are shaping them. Both will be influenced slowly and subtly by the various factors and events that occur in those environments. If that is so, how important is the environment we create in our schools for our students? Can we create environments which are conducive to Christian growth?
At the beginning of the school year, each school community is a mix of staff who have been in the school for a while as well as staff who are new to the school and may also be new to their teaching or support roles. A mixed bag – not just the group of people who knew each other throughout last year, but truly a mixed bag – a new mix of people who don’t know each other well, creating a new environment.
Just like the new staff (who have joined our school communities), our students, both old and new, have also joined new grades, new groups of friends and have met new teachers (in a new community). Our new staff and students will both be influenced by the ‘water environment’ – our school culture. So at such an important stage in the school year, we have the opportunity to look at our school culture and ask ourselves – How can we best offer the positive Christian supportive environment or culture that will support our students and be conducive to spiritual growth?
As Chris Parker says, “Culture is a powerful storyteller; a strong shaping influence on who we are, how we think, the decisions we make, and our big picture view of life.” (2017, p. 19) He wrote the book, The Frog and the Fish, Reflections on work, technology, sex, stuff, truth, and happiness. It is targeted towards young adults in their senior years of school life, a crucial period of time when our senior students are searching for meaning, identity and a perspective that is relevant to their stage of life. His book is an engaging read, both for teachers and young adults, encouraging all readers to consider the value of a worldview shaped by the Bible, and giving a hope that secular alternative cultural ideologies simply can’t.
Awareness of both our school culture and current secular culture gives us the power to discern – not just be frogs or fish – but to intentionally craft our water environment, our language, attitudes, traditions and narratives in our schools to support our students in their spiritual journeys.
May we always be alert to the often-subtle alternative secular cultural influences which work to sway us and our students from anchoring our beliefs and attitudes in our relationship with Jesus Christ. May we stay keenly aware of the ‘water environment’ we are creating for each other and our students.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the reviewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12: 1-2
References
Parker, C. (2017). The Frog & The Fish: Reflections on work, technology, sex, stuff, truth, and happiness. National Institute for Christian Education