God’s little angels daycare: God’s Little Angels | Child Care

God’s Little Angels Child Care,

Write a Review

About the Provider

Creative Garden LC Glen Burnie – Ba…

Please enable JavaScript

Creative Garden LC Glen Burnie – Baltimore MD Licensed Child Care Center

Description: God’s Little Angels Child Care, is a Licensed Child Care Center in Fruitland MD, with a maximum capacity of 52 children. This child care center helps with children in the age range of 6 weeks through 17 months, 18 months through 23 months, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years, 5 years to 15 years. The provider does not participate in a subsidized child care program.

Program and Licensing Details

• License Number:
  158347
• Capacity:
  52
• Age Range:
  6 weeks through 17 months, 18 months through 23 months, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years, 5 years to 15 years
• Achievement and/or Accreditations
  Maryland State Department of Education
• Enrolled in Subsidized Child Care Program:
  No
• Schools Served:
  Fruitland Intermediate
• District Office:
  Region 9 – Lower Shore Office
• District Office Phone:
  (410) 713-3430 (Note: This is not the facility phone number. )

Location Map

Inspection/Report History

Where possible, ChildcareCenter provides inspection reports as a service to families. This information is deemed reliable,
but is not guaranteed. We encourage families to contact the daycare provider directly with any questions or concerns,
as the provider may have already addressed some or all issues. Reports can also be verified with your local daycare licensing office.

Date	Type	Regulations	Status
2021-05-19	Full
Findings: No Noncompliances Found
2021-03-16	Complaint	13A.16.03.06A(1)	Corrected
Findings: Director did not report that an Intern would be working within the center. Director is currently gathering documents for their new intern hire
2020-06-24	Mandatory Review
Findings: No Noncompliances Found
2020-05-13	Other
Findings: No Noncompliances Found
2019-05-08	Full	13A. 16.05.12E	Corrected
Findings: There were toys outside on the playground that need to be replaced due to damages
2019-05-08	Full	13A.16.12.06E(1)	Corrected
Findings: Infants bottles should be labeled with each individual child name.
2019-05-08	Full	13A.16.05.12D	Corrected
Findings: During the inspection there were toys on the playground that were damaged/ broken.
2019-05-08	Full	13A.16.10.04A	Corrected
Findings: In the walkthrough area / Kitchen there is a sink that is located on the floor , that is not being used. Director stated that she will be moving the sink into the storage shed outside.
2019-05-08	Full	13A. 16.03.04E	Corrected
Findings: There were files reviewed that did not have the appropriate lead testing documentation. Licensing Specialist is scheduled to conduct a follow up on Friday May 17,2019, to review children files again.

If you are a provider and you believe any information is incorrect, please contact us. We will research your concern and make corrections accordingly.

Reviews

Be the first to review this childcare provider.
Write a review about God’s Little Angels Child Care,. Let other families know what’s great, or what could be improved.
Please read our brief review guidelines to make your review as helpful as possible.

Email address (will not be published):

Display name:

Which best describes your experience?:

Select from belowI have used this provider for more than 6 monthsI have used this provider for less than 6 monthsI have toured this provider’s facility, but have not used its servicesI am the ownerI am an employeeOther

Rating (1=poor, 5=excellent):

Select your Rating1 star2 star3 star4 star5 star

Review Policy:

ChildcareCenter. us does not actively screen or monitor user reviews, nor do we verify or edit content. Reviews reflect
only the opinion of the writer. We ask that users follow our
review guidelines. If you see a review that does not reflect these guidelines, you can email us. We will assess
the review and decide the appropriate next step. Please note – we will not remove a review simply because it is
negative. Providers are welcome to respond to parental reviews, however we ask that they identify themselves as
the provider.

Write a Review

Nearby Providers

Mitchell’s Martial Arts Child Care Program
Salisbury, MD | (410) 341-3333 | 0.3 mile away

Bundles Of Joy Child Care Center
Salisbury, MD | (410) 341-0333 | 0.4 mile away

Pinehurst Kids Klub Afterschool Program
Salisbury, MD | (410) 548-4834 | 1.1 miles away

King’s Kids Academy
Salisbury, MD | (410) 341-7475 | 1.2 miles away

Stepping Stones Learning Academy
Fruitland, MD | (410) 341-7668 | 1.3 miles away

The Night Watch Child Care
Salisbury, MD | (443) 783-8300 | 1. 4 miles away

Fruitland Kids Klub Afterschool Program
Fruitland, MD | (410) 677-5887 | 1.4 miles away

St. Francis De Sales Prekindergarten And After School Program
Salisbury, MD | (410) 749-9907 | 1.5 miles away

Salisbury Child Development Center
Salisbury, MD | (410) 749-1142 | 1.5 miles away

Peninsula Regional Medical Center Child Care Center
Salisbury, MD | (410) 543-7435 | 1.6 miles away

Stepping Stones Early Learning Center
Salisbury, MD | (410) 543-2273 | 1.7 miles away

Pemberton Kids Klub After School Program
Salisbury, MD | (410) 677-5809 | 1.8 miles away

Impact Child Development Center
Fruitland, MD | (410) 543-1129 | 2.1 miles away

Kids Klub Learning Center
Salisbury, MD | (410) 548-4900 | 2.3 miles away

Corner Campus
Salisbury, MD | (410) 219-5758 | 2.5 miles away

Dove Pointe Child Care Center
Salisbury, MD | (410) 341-4472 | 2.7 miles away

North Salisbury Kids Klub After School Program
Salisbury, MD | (410) 548-4887 | 2. 7 miles away

Taking It Up A Notch Childcare Too
Salisbury, MD | (443) 736-8276 | 2.8 miles away

Positive Aspirations Learning Academy
Salisbury, MD | (443) 978-7204 | 2.9 miles away

West Salisbury Youth Program
Salisbury, MD | (410) 546-7766 | 3.1 miles away

Daycare.com – Day Care Daycare Childcare

KIDKARE

by MINUTE MENU

FORCE OF NATURE DISINFECTANT

HIGHLIGHTS BOOKS

YOUR STATE LICENSING REQUIREMENTS

Parents’ Tips For Reading

Prenatal Yoga?

For You and Your Baby
By Lisa Pederse

Daycare.com Alert

Playgrounds and Arsenic!

Guest Article

Children’s Unique Vulnerability to Environmental Toxins

Member Login

Licensing Requirements

Licensing requirements and documents for center based and home based daycare for your state. More>>

Daycare Listings

Find a Daycare from our national database of over 225,000 providers including descriptions and contact information. More>>

Government Subsidies and the American Families Plan

Childcare is a crucial aspect of a child’s development, and it has been a challenge for parents to find affordable and reliable childcare options. The government recognizes the importance of childcare and is considering various subsidies to support daycare homes and centers. In this article, we will discuss the current subsidies being considered for daycare homes and centers, their potential benefits, and the challenges they may face…….

>>>> Click Here For More

Traveling with Children – Winter Edition

Vacationing in Hawaii! Warm tropical winds, the beach, swimming pools with incredible water slides, awesome sunsets, mouth-watering sea food, fresh delectable fruit, and the Castello Familyscenery and terrain of the beautiful islands were all so welcoming. It was a trip the we will fondly remember forever. Anything and everything that you could want was available for the entire family. We first stayed on beautiful Maui and next ventured to the big Island of Hawaii during our 11 day visit……

>>>> Click Here For More

The Daycare Interview

As a parent looking for childcare, it’s crucial to find a daycare center or a childminder who will provide a safe and nurturing environment for your child. One of the most critical steps in this process is the interview with potential childcare providers. The interview is a chance for you to get to know the provider, ask questions, and evaluate whether or not they are a good fit for your family. To help you prepare for your interview, we’ve gathered some member comments from the Daycare.com forum to provide insights on what to expect and how to make the most of this crucial step…….

>>>> Click Here For More

Provider Burn Out – It’s Problems and Solutions

Provider burnout is a major concern in the daycare industry. The constant demands of caring for young children can be exhausting, both physically and emotionally, and can take a toll on providers over time. Burnout can negatively impact not only providers, but also the children in their care and the families who depend on them. In this essay, we will explore the causes and effects of provider burnout and discuss strategies for preventing and managing burnout in the daycare industry……..

>>>> Click Here For More

The Daily Walk

Many years ago I decided to add a daily walk around our neighborhood to our morning schedule. We started out small by walking around our long block. We clocked it in the car and found that it was six-tenth of a mile. That took about seventeen to twenty minutes depending on the skill set and age of the walkers…..

>>>> Click Here For More

Transporting Daycare Kids

I know there are many types of agreements between parents and providers when it comes to having children in the provider’s vehicle. There are parents who want it for their kids and many who pay providers to transport their child to and from school and preschool. Some providers transport their own children to school and have field trips as a major selling point of their business…….

>>>> Click Here For More

If you are a daycare operator
and wish to have your facility listed,
Sign Up NOW!

ChairMom
Tells Her Story

Safe Temperatures

for Outside Play

EPA Newsroom

Tips for Protecting Children from Environmental Threats

90,000 Angels are not cute plump children with wings. Angels are… they are… In general, look at the 3D visualization (it will be scary, but it will become clear what “full of eyes” means)

Have you ever wondered what angels look like? No, not those winged children from postcards, more reminiscent of the ancient Greek Eros – but angels from the pages of the Old and New Testaments? If not, then there is a lot of interesting things ahead of you. Knowledgeable people can scroll through the next couple of paragraphs and go to the end of the material.

So, to begin with, it is worth saying that there are several types of angels. The “Revelation of John the Theologian” describes the appearance of seraphim who had “six wings around, and inside they are full of eyes; and neither by day nor by night have they rest, crying out: holy, holy, holy.

The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel describes cherubs , and they look no less strange: the creatures have wings and four faces – a man, a calf, a lion, an eagle, which look at four sides.

But the most amazing creatures are thrones , they are also ofanims . Theologians describe them as angels guarding the throne of God. In the Book of Ezekiel, they appear with the cherubs and appear as four wheels covered with eyes, each of which consists of two nested wheels!

The images of angels are of interest not only to religious scholars, but also to professional memologists. In recent years, a lot of memes about “biblically accurate angels” have appeared.

If an angel in the Bible begins his communication with the phrase “do not be afraid”, then there is still something to be afraid of.

• Left: according to the principles of aeronautics, there is no way for an angel to fly. The wings are too small to lift the fat body off the ground. What is this, a dress? Not very impressive! Looks fragile and soft, like a man with low testosterone.
• Right: burning wheels with eyes inside, how cool! Can move in any direction, like a UFO. No one can maintain eye contact with him. It actually looks unearthly.

And now what we are here for. Before Valentine’s Day, an artist with the nickname jopfe.tez made a video with 3D models of three angelic ranks – a cherub, a throne and a seraphim, created according to the descriptions of the prophet Ezekiel and the apostle John.

Warning! You may not be able to unsee it. Trypophobes definitely don’t need to watch the video

Spectrum Cinema

Yeah, it turned out pretty scary! Especially if you take into account the size of the creatures – for comparison, the video shows a human figure. In general, in the hierarchy of angels there are not three, but nine types – and according to some estimates, even more. And only the last appearance (just an angel) is the most familiar to everyone who has not studied the Bible so carefully, and is most similar in appearance to people.

Children and their responsibilities | Pravmir

“Parental blessing –

is the greatest inheritance for children.

Therefore, children should try

to have a parental blessing”

Infant age

— Geronda, I noticed that sometimes babies smile during the Divine Liturgy.

— They smile not only during the Divine Liturgy. Babies are in constant communication with God because they have no care. Remember what Christ said about little children? “Their angels in heaven see the face of my Father in heaven”49. The kids keep in touch with God and with the Guardian Angel, who relentlessly stays next to them. In a dream, babies sometimes laugh, sometimes cry, because they see both joyful and terrible. In some cases, they see their Guardian Angel and play with it. He caresses them, takes them by the hands, and they laugh. And in other cases, the tempter presents them with something terrible, and they cry.

— Why does the tempter frighten babies?

– The fact that he frightens them is also good for them, because they are forced to call their mother out of fear. If this fear did not exist, then babies would not be forced to run into their mother’s arms. God allows everything for the good of people.

— And when the children grow up, do they remember what they saw as babies?

— No, they forget. If the kid remembered how many times he saw his Angel, he would fall into pride. Therefore, growing up, he forgets everything. God works wisely.

– Do they see all this after Baptism?

— Of course, after Baptism.

– Geronda, is it possible to put an unbaptized baby to the Holy Relics?

— Why not? You can even cross over the baby with Holy Relics. Today I saw a baby like a little Angel. “Where are your wings?” I asked him. He was at a loss and didn’t know what to answer!.. On Athos, in my kaliva, in the spring, when the trees are in blossom, I hang caramels on the branches of a bush near the fence that fences my cell. When visitors with small children come to me, I say: “Guys, please, pick candy from the bushes, because if it rains, they will become limp and disappear!” Some smart kids understand that I hung candy on the branches, and laugh. Others believe that the sweets grew on the bushes themselves, others do not know whether to believe it or not . .. Kids also need a little sun.
— Geronda, do you hang a lot of sweets?
– If you hang it, then a lot. When delicious sweets are brought to me, I do not give them to adults. I treat adults with Turkish delight. When good sweets are brought to me, I save them for the children of Afonias. And here, in the monastery, yesterday I also planted caramels and chocolates, and today they have already blossomed! You noticed? Well, why not: the weather is sunny, the land is good, you dug it up well, so the chocolates bloomed quickly! You will see what kind of flower garden I will arrange for you! We will no longer need to buy sweets and chocolates for children. What do you think? Let’s harvest our own crop!

— Geronda, the pilgrims saw sweets and chocolates sticking out of the garden and were surprised. “Probably one of the children did it,” they said.

Why didn’t you tell them that one big kid did it?

Guardian Angel protects small children

— Geronda, why does God give every person a Guardian Angel? Can’t He keep us Himself?
— Guardian Angel is God’s special care for His creation. The Guardian Angel is the providence of God, a manifestation of His economy about man. And for that we are indebted to God. Angels especially protect little children. How do they keep them? One day two children were playing outside. One wanted to throw a stone at the other’s head and already took aim. The second child did not see the danger. And at the last moment, apparently, his Angel made it so that the kid saw something, jumped up and – the stone flew past his head.
And one mother once went to work in the field and took her baby with her. After breastfeeding him, she put him in the cradle and went to work. When after a while she went to look at the baby, she saw that he was holding in his hand and was examining the snake with curiosity! When the mother was breastfeeding the baby, milk remained around his mouth. And then the snake crawled up to the baby and licked the milk from his face. The baby grabbed the snake. Seeing this, the mother screamed, the child got scared, opened his hand, and the snake crawled away! God keeps children.

– Geronda, but then why do many children suffer from illnesses and other misfortunes?
— God knows what will benefit each person and accordingly gives him everything he needs. He does not give a person that which will not benefit. For example, sometimes He sees that a bodily defect or injury will help us more than if He saved us from this injury or kept us safe and sound.

Holy Baptism

– Geronda, what will happen to those inhabitants of Northern Epirus who die unbaptized?
– Uh, most of them were air baptized by their parents. And many in those countries received air baptism from nannies or nurses in maternity hospitals. I know of a case where a nurse baptized an infant in a basin of water. God saw the disposition of this woman… And how much Grace the newly baptized have! Once, in a group of three hundred and fifty people, I discerned a baptized woman. I asked who she was, and they told me that she was a Turkish woman who had received Holy Baptism. Her face beamed. Beside her, the others looked like barbarians.

– Geronda, is it right if children are given two names at Baptism?
— If spouses quarrel and divorce because of how to name a child, then let them give at least three names! But even the right Christian names have now been turned into who knows what… Vicky, Pippi, Mimi…

— Geronda, one woman lost her baby in her fifth month of pregnancy. He was stillborn, and now she is upset because even an air baptism could not be performed on him.
— Since she herself is not to blame for this, then let her trust in God. God knows what to do with such children and where He will place them.

– Geronda, my mother told me that one of the many brothers died a few hours after birth and she did not have time to baptize him. I advised her to tell her confessor about it.
– Since she wanted to christen him, but did not have time, she has extenuating circumstances. Another is that women generally have abortions and kill their own children themselves. We do not know the judgment of God. It would be a grave sin if she did not have time to baptize her child out of negligence and he would die unbaptized. You judge such things with common sense. This is the theology of rationalism. I remember once a group of pilgrims came to me and I told them the following incident. One baby from Northern Epirus was baptized three times. Once a grandmother, another time a grandfather, and then a mother – one secretly from the other – because they all considered the baby unbaptized. As I was telling this story, one of the pilgrims jumped up and said, “This is uncanonical!” “Listen,” I tell him, “do you think they read about the need to baptize a child three times in some dogmatic book? After all, this baby received a triple blessing!”

— Geronda, sometimes people see dead relatives in their dreams and talk to them. Is this allowed by God in order to help people in faith, in repentance?
Yes. Haven’t I told you a similar incident? One monk from the Holy Mountain was from a village that was located on the territory of Bulgaria. There were many unbaptized people there. This monk told me that, while still a layman and unbaptized, he saw in a dream his little nephew, who had recently died. The little one stood behind the fence of a beautiful garden and cried. And the garden was full of little children who rejoiced and played. “Why don’t you go to the garden?” asked the man who had the dream. “How can I go there? the child replied. “Because I’m not baptized.” After this incident, the man immediately went and was baptized, and then told the priest about what he had seen in a dream. This is how God arranged it so that others would also understand the dignity of Holy Baptism. After that, the inhabitants of this Bulgarian village also began to baptize children.

— Geronda, some parents who entered into a civil marriage want to have their children christened. Can it be done?
— Why not? What is the fault of the unfortunate children? The fact that people who have entered into a civil marriage want to christen their children indicates that they have something [good] inside them, that these people are not completely indifferent. Apparently, these people are somewhere and in something confused. If someone wants to help, then first you need to look for what reason they did not get married in the church, and then – for what reason they want to baptize their children.

— Geronda, if a nun was someone’s godfather at Baptism before entering the monastery, then now, in addition to praying for her godson, should she send him gifts – like godparents do in the world?
— Uh, the nun is now relieved of such duties. The monk will help [his] godson with prayer. Here are her parents – if they want – they can have similar connections with the godson of their nun daughter.

— That is, the parents of a nun can have such a relationship with their daughter’s godson, if they themselves want it?
— Yes, by yourself. The nun should not force them to do so. Let her pray for God to enlighten them. But be that as it may, the godfather bears a great responsibility. When I was still in the world, my parents promised a married couple they knew that someone from our family would be the godfather of one of their children. When their child was born, all my relatives were away, and therefore they asked me to become the godfather of the baby. I was then sixteen years old, and I did not want to baptize him, because I felt that I was taking on a great responsibility. So, having found myself in a difficult situation, I began to pray. “My God,” I asked, “if this baby becomes a good person, then take from me all the remaining years of my life and give them to him. However, if he becomes an unkind person, then take him to You now – when he is like a little Angel. I baptized the baby and gave him the name Paul. He died a week later. Now he is in Heaven and does not risk losing them.

Orphans

— Geronda, if the head of the family dies, should little children see the body of the dead father?
– Better not. Here, even if one of the relatives of an adult dies, then you are looking for a way, as it were, softer, more sparingly to inform him about it. What can we say about children!

— Up to what age is it not good for children to see their dead loved ones?

— It depends on the [character, inclinations, mood] of the child.

— Is it possible to take children to the grave of their father?

— Yes, you can take children to the grave. We must tell them: “The Father moved from here to Heaven. If you are good children, he will come from Heaven to visit you.” I remember when my grandmother died, they took me to the house of our acquaintances so that I would not see the funeral and would not know that she had died. There they played with me, entertained me. I laughed and they cried. When they brought me back home, I began to ask: “Where is grandmother?” “He will come, he will come,” they told me. I was waiting for my grandmother to return, and after a while I found out that she had died. It’s not good for children to see the people they love dead.

— Geronda, if a mother dies in small children, they experience her death with great pain.

— Children are more orphaned by losing their mother than their father. Therefore, when they lose their mother, they also experience great pain. It rarely happens that for children who have lost their mother, then their father becomes the mother. However, in Paradise such children will be comforted. They will get the [missing] there. An orphan will “pass” to Paradise with a lower “passing mark”, just as Greeks from abroad enter our universities without exams, since this is provided for by the relevant law. That is, the orphans are subject to the law of God, and in order to go to Paradise, they need less work, while other people need to undertake a considerable feat for this. I consider children who have lost the great tenderness of their parents happy and blissful. After all, they managed to make God their Father and at the same time put aside in the “savings bank” God and the tenderness of their parents, which they were deprived of and which brings them [spiritual] interest.

But even in this life, the Good God will help such children, because from the moment God takes the parents to Himself, He – so to speak – is obliged to take care of their children. Remember what the prophet David said? “She will accept a sire and a widow”54. God naturally loves such children more and cares for them more. To such children He gives more [spiritual] rights in this life than to other children. If an orphan turns the dial to kindness, he will do very well. But if he says: “Since I myself suffered, now I will torture others,” he destroys himself.

— Geronda, do the negative consequences of orphanhood remain for a person for life?
— What are you talking about? Orphans can be a little constrained, have some constraint, timidity – they do not have that joy, liveliness, like children who are fed up with tenderness. However, this stiffness is a brake for such children, which helps them in life. And at the same time they are saving for themselves in the life of another. What do you think: God does not see this constraint? Will He not help them later? Therefore, we must squeeze an orphan – especially for a mother – with pain and ardent love in our arms, so that at first he warms up and his timidity disappears and he opens his heart. And if he has piety, then we must strongly slow down his great enthusiasm, so that he does not strain his strength, trying to express his great gratitude. Saint Arsenios of Cappadocia grew up as an orphan both by mother and father. If he had not treated his orphanhood spiritually, with courage, he would have been a tormented person, he would have mental problems. But look how good he was! What feats he carried! I was impressed that his bones were soft, like cotton wool, like a sponge. When, during the uncovering of his relics, I took out his ribs and vertebrae from the grave, they crumbled to dust as soon as I touched them. More or less strong were only two vertebrae, the hip and tibia. The amazing thing is: how, being so painful, could he walk such great distances? He walked, it was like flying through the air! Here you can see the supernatural power that God gave him. So is it really beyond the power of Christ to raise an orphan?

Until children reach adulthood,

they must be restrained

at the critical age of adolescence. Children must enter into the meaning of obedience. They must understand that their own benefit is hidden in obedience to their parents, so that they obey them with joy and move freely in the spiritual space.
Have you ever thought about how limited the freedom of a small child is? For nine months he is imprisoned in his mother’s womb. The newborn is placed in the cradle. Five or six months pass, and he is placed behind a high net. Then the grown child is not allowed to leave the house alone, so that he does not hit or fall down the stairs. After all, if you leave the child free, he will fall and break.
All this is necessary for the child to grow up in safety. At first glance, all these means take away the freedom of the child – but without all this, he would be in danger of dying from the first moment of his life. However, children – when they are small – do not understand that they need restraint. However, when they grow up, they also do not understand that they require restrictions of a different kind and therefore strive for freedom. But what is this freedom? Freedom to be crippled? Children are dying from such freedom. They have to understand that until they graduate, until they get their hands on a diploma, until they become mature – to be the right people – they need a limitation. After all, crippled at least once, they will die. Children should feel the restriction as a necessity, understand that this is a blessing from God. They should be grateful to their parents who limit them. They should know that their parents limit them out of love. No father or mother has restrained their child from malice – even if they were extremely harsh with them. And if parents tighten their children’s nuts a little tighter, then there is also a lot of love hidden in this. They do this from a good disposition, so that the children will be more collected, smarter and not exposed to danger. After all, a gardener, planting a tree, for greater reliability, can fasten it with wire tighter than necessary, and injure it a little. However, the Good God soon heals the wound on the bark of a tree. If God heals the wound of a tree, how much more does He care about [man] – His creation! Really, if the parents tightened the screws a little tighter on the child and inflicted a small wound on him, God will not heal this wound?
In addition, children should talk with their parents, should reveal their thoughts to them. Just as a monk in a monastery has an Elder to whom he opens his thoughts and from whom he receives help, so the child must open himself to his parents. It is correct if the child first confesses to his mother and then to the confessor. Just as parents, if a child hurts his leg, go with him to the doctor and ask what they need to do to make the injury go away, so they should also know what [spiritual] problems their child has in order to help him. If a child talks about his problems only to the confessor, then how can parents help him? They don’t know what’s bothering him.

Difficulties of children during studies

Children who have the ability to judge and ingenuity sometimes meet with difficulties and suffer. Such children want to arrange everything with their own mind and strive to do what exceeds their strength. They have a strong mind, but they do not know how to apply the brakes. They experiment on themselves, as if they want to test what margin of safety they have! They suffer from this. If they humble themselves, their ability to judge will help them succeed. Children who do not have such a capacity for judgment and ingenuity do not have difficulties, but, in turn, they do not work [inwardly], do not think [about life] – in the good sense of the word.
Do you know how many students, having prepared for exams and knowing everything by heart, are afraid that they will fail and because of this they do not go to exams? Being able to cope with their studies, such students plunge themselves into a panic with their cowardice. However, if they humbly ask: “Pray, because I myself cannot cope with my studies, but with your prayers I will try to pass the exams well,” then for humility they will accept the Grace of God and divine enlightenment. In addition, before starting to take the exam, students should pray to their patron saint, who will help them in accordance with their faith and reverence.

— Geronda, a girl who is studying abroad, wrote to me: “My thought tells me that I will never be able to succeed spiritually. It seems that I will always be like this.”
– Here’s an eccentric! Sits in Europe and comes to such conclusions! After all, she went there not in order to succeed spiritually and not in order to stay there forever, but in order to gain the knowledge that she would need in her specialty. Let her try to keep the spiritual state that she has now, and do not strive for spiritual success there. After all, Europeans are a people who have succeeded in the [earthly] sciences, and not in the spiritual. Let her not put pressure on herself and take everything to heart. You should not take all this to heart and suffer because of it. Let her consider her stay there as urgent military service. In the army, a soldier works hard, exhausts himself, sometimes others behave very harshly with him. And with her in Europe, people behave at least with courtesy – albeit external, hypocritical – according to the European mentality. It was to be expected that she would meet with these difficulties, because even in Greece – since we are an Orthodox people – there is also spiritual help for those who are preoccupied with their spiritual life. A little patience and a little attention, and difficulties will be overcome. Since she was there, she should devote her free time to reading and prayer in order to feed spiritually too. The efforts that she will make to succeed in her studies will help her to immerse herself in it with her head, and then all evil thoughts and youthful temptations will be alien to her.

Source: Elder Paisios Svyatogorets of Blessed Memory “WORDS” T.I-IV

Monastery of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian

Suroti, Thessaloniki

Publishing house “Holy Mountain”, Moscow 2002-04.