The opportunity to reread a familiar story provides the opportunity to gain a deeper insight and appreciation for that story. This was something I experienced over the break. You may well know the story of how Stradivarius violins came into being, especially from their humble beginning to now being a highly desired and valued instrument.
The Italian violin maker Antonio Stradivari was an extremely poor man, yet his violins are now priceless because of the rich and resonating sound they produce. In fact, the sound of a Stradivarius is so unique it cannot be duplicated.
What is surprising about this story is that these precious instruments were not made from treasured pieces of timber but rather were carved from discarded pieces of lumber that had spent much time floating in a dirty and polluted harbour. As a very poor person, Antonio Stradivari could not afford to buy fine materials, and he sourced most of the wood he required to craft these special violins by searching the banks of the dirty harbour close to where he lived.
He would rummage for and retrieve these dirty, water-logged pieces of timber from the banks of the harbour, take them back to his place, clean the timber up and let it dry out. Then, from these discarded pieces of timber, he would carve and create instruments of rare beauty and value.
As people have tried to explain the unique resonance of a Stradivarius violin, it has been discovered that while the wood floated in the murky waters of the harbour, microbes infiltrated the wood and ate away the centres of the wood cells. This left a fibrous infrastructure of wood that created many micro chambers, enabling the music to resonate as the instrument was being played. So essentially, from wood that was discarded and seen by others as worthless, Stradivari was able to see past this and transform it into something of beauty and immense value.
As I sat with this story and allowed it to ruminate in my mind, it occurred to me that just as this violin maker, through the skilful and careful work of his hands, was able to transform a piece of wood that was not valued or wanted into something that is highly valued, it is like the process when God starts to work in our lives.
God is in the business of transforming our lives. He takes us from what we are today and, through the work of His loving hands, moulds and shapes us into the people He has created us to be, a people who are loved, valued and esteemed and, as such, continue to bring glory to Him.
It is with this understanding of God working in each of us that the College was able to define its purpose statement: ‘Through Christian education, students discover their God-given purpose.’
For over 40 years, Heathdale has been providing Christian education to families in the west of Melbourne, and we have seen numerous stories of transformation. Some of these transformations became obvious while students were still at Heathdale, while in others the evidence of God’s transformational work was manifested post their school years.
Our past and present students often reflect on their time at Heathdale, noting that the words and actions of staff proved to be formational, enabling them to transform just as our motto states, “to become!”
This is why the staff and I feel so blessed and privileged to be able to speak words of hope, encouragement and wisdom into young lives every day. We sense that God takes these words and actions and uses them as transformational tools that bear fruit in the lives of our students.
What a blessing it is to be part of this vibrant, God-honouring community. Long may we continue to partner with our parents through the opportunity to speak into our students’ lives and, as such, be transformational tools in God’s hands.