“Change is the only constant in life.” – Heraclitus (ancient Greek philosopher)
Many recent events in my work here on campus got me to thinking about endings and beginnings – about change.
- We are ending our budget work for one fiscal year and the beginning our work on future financial and fiscal year planning.
- We have finished one academic year and are beginning to prepare for students to return in the fall.
- We just held our commencement exercises, which signifies the end of our students’ time here on campus and the beginning of their lives as Xavier alumni.
- We are ending our mask mandates and social distancing (hopefully) and beginning to return to some semblance of normal without masks and face-to-face gatherings.
- A number of long-serving leaders, faculty and staff will be ending their work on campus, and their successors will be beginning theirs.
- And of course, the ending of the Fr. Graham’s tenure and the beginning of new leadership under Dr. Hanycz here at Xavier.
Our lives and our work are a constant series of endings and beginnings. Some of these endings come suddenly or unexpectedly. Others are planned and come more gradually. Some are happy. Some are sad. But each ending gives us the opportunity for a new beginning. As is said, “When one door closes, another door opens.”
As I thought about some of these recent endings and beginnings, what we have been through these past fifteen months, and the general pace of our lives in the 21st century, I stepped back to assess some of the things that I have found helpful to make these transitions. Hopefully some of them will resonate with you.
- Make time to reflect and be thankful for what is ending. Be grateful for what was learned and what was accomplished.
- Make time to celebrate the new beginning and what we have to look forward to.
- Recognize there are things about endings and beginnings that we do not control. Act on what we can control, but recognize and move on from what we can’t control.
- Pause to reflect and refresh. The pace, chaos, and emotion of change can be stressful; make time to take care of ourselves and each other.
- Be grateful for what we have and for those around us with whom we share these changes.
- Remain optimistic and hopeful for what is yet to come and the new relationships that new beginnings may bring.
- And finally, take time to remember that God is with us through all the events of our lives, and that these endings and beginnings are no different.
I am not a regular reader of the Bible, but one of my favorite set of verses can be found in Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3, verses 1 and 11. 1There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven. 11All that He does is apt for its time; but although He has given us an awareness of the passage of time, we can grasp neither the beginning nor the end of what God does.
Let us ask for God’s grace and help as we pursue these endings and these beginnings together with patience, perseverance, and trust in what He has planned for us.
– Written and offered by Phil Chick on 5/17/21 post-pandemic
