Mark Katrick faith column: As Daylight Saving Time nears, how does God view the concept?
It’s time to spring forward. Don’t fall back! Or is it time to fall forward? Don’t spring back!
I once saw a cartoon where a pastor is preaching to a deserted church with the sexton standing in the back. He’s calling out, “It sure looks like someone forgot to set his alarm clock ahead.”
What confuses the issue even more is when people don’t like to set their watches to the exact time. I once worked as an associate pastor at a large church with two services. One was at 8 a.m. in the chapel. The other was at 10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary.
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The church secretary and I noticed all the clocks were set two minutes fast. So we decided to make the correction when it was time to spring ahead. It wasn’t long before we found out that the senior pastor, who was away on vacation, liked them that way.
That, my column-reading friends, is a man on a mission: He is so determined to be prompt, that he will sacrifice two minutes of his precious time to be on time.
What preacher wants to be late walking down the center aisle? That’s not the only reason it was hard to keep up with that wonderful gentleman who taught me so much about pastoral ministry. He was so much taller than me that I’d have to take two steps to his every step and a half.
“Does anybody really know what time it is/ Does anyone really care (about time)?” So say the lyrics to a song by Chicago. One who does care is the Divine Timekeeper, who sets all our days (and nights) into motion. And when it’s all said and done, our Creator creates the same scenario all over again, in the dawning of a brand new day.
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Does it matter to God whether we set our clocks a couple of minutes ahead or behind and whether we’re a little bit early or late? What do you think? What I’m thinking is that God wants us to make the most of every second, every minute and every hour, to live, learn and grow in the saving grace and universal love of Christ.
In other words, begin every day of every season in prayer and contemplation. Practice taking deep breaths and heightening your awareness of the One who will be accompanying you, speaking to you with his “still, small voice” and hearing your prayers.
Whatever plans are being made for you, don’t let yourself get ahead of or behind God, even if it’s only the matter of a few seconds. The Christ beside and above, will send the counsel, wisdom, energy and focus of the Holy Spirit to carry them out, one moment at a time.
Mark Katrick is a pastor and spiritual guide.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Mark Katrick faith column: How does God approach Daylight Saving Time?
