DO UNTO others as you would have them do to you. It’s as biblically a simple mantra as you could find – and one with which we are all familiar.
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And, coincidentally, one which makes sense. A lot of sense. But does the message play out in life? In real life.
Echuca’s Sage Wiltshire is focused on living a life of kindness, as an example to inspire it in others.
Standing behind the counter of the Epicentre Op Shop or helping around the church, kindness is something which goes with the territory.
“When you are the pastor’s wife you do whatever you can,” Sage said.
Unlike many of the couples in this feature, Sage and her pastor husband Rob, did not meet through the church. Did not bump into each other at school. Or bible college.
But the story behind this match made in heaven would indicate it doesn’t matter how rough the ride gets, they will handle it better than most.
Because 12 years ago, on the other side of the country, they finally bumped into each other. At a rodeo. Not in the stands watching, but on the arena, competing.
“Rob was a professional bull-rider and I’d been riding since I was three,” Sage explained.
“We’d both competed in competitions both here and in the States, but we had never met. “It wasn’t until he came to a rodeo in WA where I lived, that we finally got to meet.”
The rest, as they say, is history.
The couple married and started to tone down their lives, from straddling almost 1000kg of very bad-tempered bovine to pursuing a more sedate career, herding their own flock here in Echuca-Moama.
Where Sage (sans saddle) has become an integral part of the family’s calling, helping out in every way from running study groups alongside her husband to working at the church op shop three days a week.
Sage is always finding ways to spread her joy across Echuca, her work with the church and the congregation fulfilling for her and her husband.
But in many ways Sage has left an artistic mark on her new hometown; her own mark of kindness.
“I love drawing and painting,” she said.
“I used to teach at a local art school, but I stopped when I had my third, and last, daughter, Bobby.”
While she may have stepped back from the teaching, Sage still manages to find ways to include her artistic spirit in projects through the church.
“We’ve run an event called the Epicentre Girls’ Brunch every year for the past 10 years,” she said.
The brunch honours women in the community through a day of art, craft, music and entertainment.
“It’s nice that we embrace everyone’s creative side in the community,” she said. Her art has also taken her to places she might never have considered – such as the Men’s Shed.
Where she was recruited to paint a mural and where she developed a new understanding of opportunities within the wider community.
Her time working at the shed opened her eyes to a group that might be a little traditional, might have been a little surprised to see a woman turn up to do their painting and might have still been happy with the end product.
It certainly made her appreciate the importance of places and services such as this has for the still active elderly men of the twin towns.
“I remember thinking to myself how obvious it was that there is such a need for places like this,” she said.
“It keeps members active and engaging with others, rather than sitting at home.” Sage said places like the Men’s Shed struggle to get by.
“A lot of these groups don’t get government support or funding,” she said.
“They rely on volunteers and donations of others, and Epicentre likes to help in any way that it can.”
It is through these acts of kindness Sage hopes to inspire it in others.
“Sometimes it saddens me that people are shocked to see kindness, but that makes me appreciate what we do even more,” she said.
“I just hope that somebody doing something kind, inspires kindness to someone else.”
Meet the other powers behind the pulpit
Yvonne Schroder: New Life Baptist Church
Sarah Hemmings, Christ Church Anglican
Christine Sebire: St Mary's Church