On the plains of Peru, between the Inca and the Nazca valleys lies a series of lines, some covering many square kilometres, these lines for a long time were mistakenly thought of as ancient irrigation channels and even hiking trails.
That was until the 1930’s when aircraft flying over were able to see the lines come together to form giant pictures of plants and animals as well as geometric shapes, some covering many square kilometres. When viewed from an aircraft, these seemingly random lines are enormous drawings. There are a massive 70 animal and plant figures and 900 geometric shapes, all dating back 1500 years or more.
As we are now well into term 4, and our year 12’s have many ‘lasts’. A last English lesson, last assembly, last … , it strikes me that throughout what will have been school journeys of 13 years, we can sometimes feel like we are glimpsing just a segment of what is the larger picture of their lives, and now as they prepare to leave, the bigger picture is coming into perspective. Much like the seemingly random lines which mark the Nazca plains.
Whether we taught students when they were in year one, coached them through a volleyball season or had regular chats in the library over the latest novel, every staff member here at Tintern has formed part of the bigger picture which makes up the lives of these young men and women.
Likewise, in our lives we often hear snip-its of texts from the Bible, that can seem like random parts, but the Bible too is a big picture, made up of lots of smaller pictures. The big picture of God’s love for God’s creation and the restoration of that relationship through the person of Jesus.
And you also, who are reading this, are one important part of the bigger picture which is our school community, Tintern Grammar.
by Alison Andrew, School Chaplain
