Time Change

This was the weekend the time changed for those of us in Missouri. We “gained” an hour, meaning that when our clocks said 10:00 PM, it was really only 9:00 PM. You go to bed by the old time, and you get to sleep an extra hour. We like the time change in the Fall; the one in the Spring where we “lose” an hour is not so loved.

I’m not sure my children, and especially my daughter, has ever forgiven me for the time change. When they were young, we never told them about the time change in the Fall – we just put them to bed at the normal time, let them fall asleep, and then went around the house and changed the clocks. My wife and I enjoyed another hour of solitude and our kids knew nothing about it. However, come Spring, we told them for a week before that they would have to go to bed early. On Saturday we would start changing the clocks so they could get accustomed to the idea that bedtime at 7:30 PM was really bedtime at 8:30 PM.

My daughter never got it. Since she was never told about the Fall change, she didn’t realize the Spring change just completed the cycle. It didn't make sense to her as she got older. It seemed like we were always losing time but never getting it back. She went through a long phase in her life where she lived in her own time zone, refusing to change her watch and even refusing to wear one.

She now lives in Arizona where the time doesn’t change.

The writer of Ecclesiastes 3 says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” All the things you would expect are listed – a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to harvest, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh. There is something of a balance to life, a rhythm, and we are called to make the most of what life throws at us. Ephesians 5:16 even tells us to make the most of time because the days are evil. We don’t know what the day may bring, but we know every day brings opportunities to live life well under the Lordship of Christ. We can love God with all we are and love our neighbor as ourselves, a good response to the evil that may come our way.

My daughter would point out that Ecclesiastes 3 says nothing about a time to change our clocks. She’s right, of course. It also doesn’t say there is a time to forgive her father for not telling her about the time change, but maybe she will do it anyway.