By Rev. Adam J. Rodgers
Daylight Saving Time begins Sunday. Like many of you I will go to bed angry on Saturday night feeling violated by the gods of time who will rudely steal one of my precious hours of sleep while I lay in bed vulnerable and snoring. I already anticipate waking up Sunday morning feeling tired and grumpy, which isn’t a good mindset for a pastor to have right before he gathers with the congregation for worship.
My anger surrounding Daylight Saving Time is always short-lived and will only last through the weekend for a couple of reasons. First, I’m not the type of person who can stay angry for long periods of time about anything. It takes large amounts of effort to be angry, and I just don’t have the energy for it. Second, although Daylight Saving Time will disrupt my weekend, I do enjoy the extended periods of daylight in the evenings that are the result of its occurrence.
I’m looking forward to eating dinner and having enough daylight left to go for a walk with my family. As parents of three young boys, my wife and I ran out of ways to entertain our children with inside activities in January. Since then it has been a matter of survival. Thankfully in 48 hours, both the sun and the time will begin to cooperate with us in the evenings once again.
I find the concept of time interesting. Time is a science that must be measured with precision. I recently learned the United States has two official time agencies: the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory. Readings from the clocks of these agencies contribute to world time, called Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The time maintained by both U.S. agencies should never differ by more than 0.0000001 seconds from UTC. That is impressive to me, especially since my wife and I can’t even synchronize the alarm clocks on our nightstands.
While time is a science, it is also very much a matter of perception. Most schools break for summer vacation in about three months, and the children think it’s never going to get here. For a cancer patient who has just been told she has three months left to live, her summer will arrive much too soon.
In the New Testament, we are told that with God one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. Apparently God also views time through the lens of perception. A very long time for us is a very short time for God. Even more from God’s perspective, one ordinary day contains within it as much significance as 40 generations.
One of the great human ironies is how time moves both slowly and quickly throughout our lives. In the same 24-hour period, we will become frustrated at how slowly the work day is moving along, yet we will tell others how our children are growing up too fast. It’s true that time does fly when we are having fun, yet we’ve all experienced time move at a snail’s pace when seated in the waiting room of a doctor’s office.
I have heard life described as more a marathon than a sprint, but I think that is only partially correct. From God’s perspective and maybe from our perspective as well, life is both a marathon and a sprint. Thankfully God is more than able to keep up when life’s a sprint; God’s more than willing to jog beside us when life’s a marathon; and God’s always there to stand with us when we’re tired and need a break.
Whether your life currently feels like a marathon or a sprint, since God is present with you, your focus should not be on the pace of the day. Rather, your focus should be on the preciousness of the day. The time that matters is today. Accept it for what it is. Rejoice if it is a good day, and let the tears flow if it’s a bad day. Just don’t waste your time today, because all you’re doing is wasting a piece of your life. Today is all there is. Make it time well spent.
Adam J. Rodgers is pastor of Stoneboro Presbyterian Church.
