Desire and Effort
“Desire and effort must come from you. God will provide the power and the result.” Saint Paisios of Mt Athos.
It’s only natural to pause at the end of a year and reflect on all that has happened since the last tour around the sun. To think that at this time last year, none of us had any inkling that a pan-Orthodox school would be in the works so soon - we may have hoped and dreamed, and perhaps said a quiet prayer or two, but surely no one would have thought that we would be this far along by now! There is no doubt, we have worked diligently over the last many months. We’ve used the word “tirelessly” in the past, but that doesn’t quite do the team justice. Tirelessly seems to imply “effortlessly”, and there is no end of effort involved in the planning of this school. Thankfully we have a large team of dedicated people, that is only expanding week by week. Glory to God for the way He continues to bring the right people to us at the right time! But no matter how hard we may work, we cannot take credit for how far we have come. As St Paisios reminds us in the quote above, quite beyond our own desire and effort, it is clearly God that has provided the power and the results.
It’s equally natural to look ahead to the horizon of the new year and oh my, what a year 2022 will be! We will finalize our staffing soon, begin accepting student applications, have fun with a whole calendar full of fundraising events, and then – God willing, always God willing – we will open our doors come September. And of course, opening our doors will only be the beginning of this adventure! Then the true work will begin. The work of educating our young ones with Christ at the core, engaging their minds and asking for illumination of their hearts. We pray that our Heavenly King will guide us through this year, so that all we do, every step of the way, might be in His service.
A huge thank you for all of the donations that have been rolling in through the website, www.heavenlykingacademy.ca. If we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic, we would be tracking down each and every one of you to give you a great big bear hug. Truth be told, we might anyway.
God will provide the power and the results. But the desire and the effort must come from all of us!
With love in Christ,
The HKOA Team
