Spring Ahead
Are you ready? Were you ready? Ready for
what you ask? Why, Daylight Savings Time, which officially began at 2
AM this morning.
Once again, most of the nation has set its clocks forward, gaining an extra hour of darkness in the morning in exchange for more sunlight at day's end. The origins of DST are to be found in the exigencies of country at war almost a century ago. Now, it seems to be mostly about commuters, convenience, and habit. But if we're willing, DST (and the return later this year to EST), can be a means for us to ponder something larger: our desire for control. By setting clocks forward or back, we can entertain the illusion that we are masters of time itself. Of course, in truth, we're nothing of the sort. The earth's rotation around its axis and its orbit around the sun will remain unchanged by anything we've done. Our lives will be no longer nor no shorter than they were before we began to fiddle with what we say is the time. That said, there is something over which we still have great control: how we use our time.
Time management might seem like a mundane matter, something to contemplate in the office, a challenge to be addressed as we try to get so many things done in any given day. But it's something larger, something even existential. How we use our time, a resource of ultimate finitude, will reflect our priorities in life. Are we dedicated to doing what God calls us to do or what we'd prefer to do?
During this Lent, we are called to contemplate and then answer this question. God is calling us to spring ahead into God's future. Are you ready? Am I?
Once again, most of the nation has set its clocks forward, gaining an extra hour of darkness in the morning in exchange for more sunlight at day's end. The origins of DST are to be found in the exigencies of country at war almost a century ago. Now, it seems to be mostly about commuters, convenience, and habit. But if we're willing, DST (and the return later this year to EST), can be a means for us to ponder something larger: our desire for control. By setting clocks forward or back, we can entertain the illusion that we are masters of time itself. Of course, in truth, we're nothing of the sort. The earth's rotation around its axis and its orbit around the sun will remain unchanged by anything we've done. Our lives will be no longer nor no shorter than they were before we began to fiddle with what we say is the time. That said, there is something over which we still have great control: how we use our time.
Time management might seem like a mundane matter, something to contemplate in the office, a challenge to be addressed as we try to get so many things done in any given day. But it's something larger, something even existential. How we use our time, a resource of ultimate finitude, will reflect our priorities in life. Are we dedicated to doing what God calls us to do or what we'd prefer to do?
During this Lent, we are called to contemplate and then answer this question. God is calling us to spring ahead into God's future. Are you ready? Am I?
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