These Changing Times

As the date turned from August 31st to September 1st last night, more than just the picture on your calendar changed. Although it's still a million degrees outside here in Ithaca, in just a few days, Labor Day will signal the unofficial end of summer. School buses will be back on their normal routes, those late summer nights will turn into 10:00 bed times.

While all of those seasonal changes are taking place, something bigger is going on at the same time. Everyone is a year older, and most, but not all, a year wiser. Think about where you were on this date one year ago. What were you doing? What was your state of mind?

Now, as a senior in college, I can't help but look back on four years ago at this time. I was just a little freshman, really without a clue what was going on. Now at 22, I feel pretty old. I mean, one of my teachers even told me they thought I had already graduated. Entertaining, but it makes you think a little bit. The fact is that no matter where you are in your life, age 12,22,42,or 62 you need to really ask yourself if this is where you want to be. Your own personal happiness can often control the happiness around you. It's contagious isn't it? A person is much more willing to help someone else, with a smile on their face, when they are happy with their own life. As things change, both big and small, it's important to remember that fact, and to stay in and treasure each and every moment, because before you know it, you're 22.

That idea of staying in the moment, and figuring out your state of mind as things change, relates to last week's readings too...it wouldn't be a Session with Eschen without some kind of connection right? The first reading from Sirach says not to search into things beyond your strength. You cannot control a lot of what happens in the future, which is why we all need to focus on the here and now, and if the way we are living makes us truly happy.

Adversity hits at unexpected times. We all know when the leaves will change from green to red to nothing, and can get ready for that. Our human nature tells us when to gear up for a school year or work, but it's what we do on a daily basis that gets us ready for anything bad that might happen unexpectedly. That's the only part that is within our strength.

The ongoing theme this week is to humble yourself. We need to humble ourselves enough to say that, hey, we need help, especially for those different aspects that are beyond our strength. That is where God takes over. With him, it's that much easier to get through tough times, and tough transitions as well. Your faith will be rewarded.

Somehow, Morgan Freeman is a constant in my movie references, but this time, it is him whose faith is rewarded. A couple years ago, the Batman movie, "The Dark Knight," was a summer box office hit. Morgan Freeman is Batman's technological guru, designing suits, weapons, and even the famous Batmobile. At the end of the movie, Batman puts his own spin on one of Freeman's inventions, making every cell phone a sonar like device, enabling Batman to invade every person's privacy in the city. Freeman says it's too much power for one man to have, and vows he will resign after Batman saves the day. But, after Batman tells Freeman to type his name in at the end, the system combusts, showing Freeman that indeed, his mind was in the right place.

Go to 1:02 of this link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9c8w8ONAWM, to see the scene.

Freeman may not have liked that turn of events at the beginning, but Batman showed him the good that came from tough times.

As a whole, we are better because of all of the adversity that comes our way. Sure, it might be tough to handle in the moment, but by having faith in God, that he will indeed reward us for believing in him, and that good will come of it, we can get through it.

Starting college for the first time might be a big change, starting your first year at a new job might be one too. Starting your junior year might be a small blip on your radar, much like the end of summer for some. A sports injury or a family emergency will be unexpected. But, by focusing only about what is within our strength on a daily basis, we are ready for anything. By having faith in God being at our side, we don't have to question the fact that good will come from bad. That is how we get through those changes.

And as old as I might joke that I am, I know that today is all that matters, so why not enjoy it. When changes hit, it's time to embrace them, instead of hiding. It makes us who we are today, and who we will be a year from today too.