This morning at 2am, while most of us slept, Daylight Savings Time arrived for another year. I’m not as big a fan of daylight savings as some people are. It’s not that I don’t like the extended daylight at the end of the day. It’s great to have it lighter when I head home from work, and nice to be able to go for a walk or do some work outside after supper. However, more light later in the day means sacrificing light earlier in the morning, and it’s easier to get up at 5am knowing the sun is soon behind me.
No longer. It will be the end of March before the sun rises before 7am and the end of April before it is up before 6am. So it’s an exchange really, we don’t actually gain any daylight when we change the clocks, we just take it off the top of our day to add it to the bottom. But, when I stop grumbling I remember that with this switch also comes hope that Spring will soon arrive, and I begin to think about Spring and Summer activities. I plan for the gardens and flowers I’ll plant. I plan for trips I want to take and waterfalls I want to explore. And as I plan, I try to remember Jesus’ words:
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:13-16
I don’t think God is against setting goals and making plans for our days. It seems to me that if we are to serve Him effectively we need to think ahead a little. But our plans should always be subject to His revisions or allowing Him to strike them completely. To make the most of our days we should always start with a conversation with the Lord, both talking AND listening to see who He would have us touch and how we can best serve Him.
We also shouldn’t leave that conversation in the morning. We need to be in touch with God all day to adjust our attitudes and actions to match what He would have us do. I often struggle with this one, getting to the end of the day and looking back, seeing too late opportunities I missed because I wasn’t paying attention. That makes me sad. I’m going to work on doing better.
So my friends, whether you like this springing ahead stuff or not, allow yourself to take the time to think about today and what the Lord has for you. Do the good He has for you this day, and go to bed tonight with the peace of knowing you’ve done the best you could for Him.
blessings and peace to you!
Paula
Paula Davis 