We have had a phenomenal two weeks at Lawton Academy of Arts & Sciences. Not only have we been scheduling lots of tours and interviews, but we also successfully purchased a huge new building to house our secondary school in the fall. We have been blessed tremendously! In the midst of all the celebrating, I have been very aware of how humble we should be.
Humility is defined as a modest or low view of one’s own importance. It would be very easy for us to think that we caused all of these good things to happen. What’s it called? Karma? Maybe with all the good we’ve been doing, we somehow deserve to get all these blessings, right? The only problem with that theory is that the reverse would have to be true as well. And I know that is not true. The schools that had to close their programs because Covid-19 wiped out their monetary sources did not have that happen because of bad things they were doing. It just happened to them, and it’s very sad.
As I look to the fall semester, I am burdened with figuring out ways to make sure that the blending of three schools goes smoothly. I want our kids to be proud of their school and welcoming to all new students. But, I also want to recognize the fact that there are several kids who will have known each other from their previous schools, and they are naturally going to be drawn to each other. The only way to help us all function under one roof is through humility. None of us can become so proud of our previous designations that we cannot come together as survivors of a historical event such as the Covid-19 pandemic. We have to create a new normal.
I am confident that we can meet the needs of all of the students. I am confident that we will be able to bring about new friendships and new visions for futures. But, I am also keenly aware that the only way to truly be successful is to remember that, but by the grace of God, we could have lost our school. We will take the duties God has assigned us and do them to the best of our ability. We will love all of the children He sends, and we will do our best to recognize and help children cope with the pain of losing their schools.
In the same vein, the building we bought is a former church. The church will still use the auditorium on Sundays. How heartbreaking it will be to walk through what once was your entire church building and know that you have lost all but the rental of the sanctuary. It pains me to think of their loss. God has led me to understand that, by buying the building, we have ensured that they will still have a place to worship on Sundays, and we have kept them form losing everything. That’s truly humbling as well.
So, I think I will redefine humility from my perspective: Humility is remembering that your gain sometimes cost others a loss, and truly humble people do all they can to help those who suffered the loss, even as they are moving forward in their gain.
- Michelle