by Dr. Jeff Mathis
It’s as though you can set your clock by it. As soon as we approach the weekend when we gain or lose an hour due to the time change, everyone seems to chatter about the practice associated with Daylight Saving Time.
So that we’re all clear, we are currently in Standard Time.
As you’ve undoubtedly heard ad nauseam, Standard Time brings joy to those who like to send their children off to school each morning in the daylight, but brings dismay to those who return home each evening to a dark home.
Who knew that Daylight Saving Time could evoke such strong feelings?
Everyone seems to have a reason why they love/ hate setting our clocks forward and back each year. Some say it enables them to save on their light bill, while others say it gives them more time to be outside. Others will complain about waking up in the pitch dark, while many enjoy having long evenings to read books or binge that new series on Netflix.
“I hate it,” says one annoyed mother. “Setting clocks ahead each spring and losing an hour of sleep is so disruptive.”
“Who doesn’t want an extra hour of sleep the night after the big college football game?,” says one college student. “Heck, why don’t we add an extra hour of sleep each weekend?”
Uh…that could be problematic.
I find that the question of time makes me ponder how I order my days.
How do you arrange your time? Perhaps it’s your work schedule or when you must be at school. Some may order their day around their energy peaks and ebbs. For many of us, eating sets the agenda for our day. Everything is arranged between our meals, snacks, coffee breaks, and nibbles on leftover Halloween candy.
I’m struck by how I order my day around many variables, but my prayer life isn’t prominently listed.
As a faithful Jew, Jesus most certainly arranged his day around prayer. In addition to the prayerful attitude Jesus had each day, Jesus set aside anywhere from 3 to 5 specific times of prayer each day—that is, morning, noon, mid-afternoon, evening, and before sleeping. One can only imagine how this rhythm impacted Jesus’s life and ministry. One can only imagine how this kind of ordering of our days might affect our life and ministry.
Thinking about how we order our day and what governs what and when we do things is tricky business. If we think about how we arrange our days, we may have to contend with how we order our lives.
Unlike the time of day, it’s too bad no one doesn’t direct how we do that.
Oh, wait…