Pausing at Four Years

We've have "March"ed into a new month, having taken a leap.

It's an interesting thing this Leap Day that we have every four years to keep the calendar in sync.  But it also offers a good opportunity to pause for reflection, as we take stock of where we are in life now versus four years ago when we last had a February 29.

Being a young child, I don't have memories of my first three Leap Days, right after I was born, when I was in preschool, and when I was in elementary school.

The first Leap Day I remember well was back when I was in 7th grade in 2004.  I was at Julian at that time, but I didn't go there that day because it was Sunday.  However, I spent the better part of an afternoon with a couple of classmates filming a video for a class project, with the Academy Awards happening later that day.

Four years later, I was a junior in high school.  Then four years after that, I was a junior in college.  One memorable activity that day was launching a weather balloon in one of my classes.

And now I'm in graduate school, and keeping active with many other things in life, like working at the Oak Park Public Library, and teaching Religious Education, one of many ways I'm involved at Church.

And, of course, this is the first Leap Year for this blog of mine.

It's also interesting how this coordinates with election years, and to see how the big issues are playing out and what candidates have thrown their hats into the ring.

Indeed, how the times go by, how we change and how we live our lives, all under a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.