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Perfect Timing

“Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are his. He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.”¹

Benjamin Franklin said, “Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” His seemingly simple observation became a proverb for life. Mr. Franklin was an inventor and was always looking for solutions to the little problems in life. On a visit to Europe, he wrote a letter to the Parisians suggesting that, by rising earlier to take advantage of sunlight, they would actually conserve candles in the process. And although he did not suggest daylight savings time, he was definitely a creative thinker. A gentleman by the name of George Vernon Hudson is who we can thank for the time changes we experience in Fall and Spring. “Fall back and spring ahead” was suggested by this entomologist who realized through his employment as a shift worker that it gave him leisure time to collect bugs, making Hudson aware of the value of after-hours sunlight. In 1916, people started using daylight savings time to increase the hours of sunlight in each day.

While there are many pros to having “extra hours” in the day, daylight savings time is not my favorite. I love the extra sunlight and longer days, especially as summer approaches and the kids are out of school, however, this time change can also mess with well adjusted schedules and cause disruption as we try to get our kids back on track. Disruptions cause disorder. Disorder requires reorganization. Reorganization gives us the opportunity to make changes in the way we do things.

Just like we, as parents, seek to meet the needs of our children during these times of change, so does God desire to meet our needs during times or seasons of change. We are always thinking of how we can structure our schedules to best serve us, but what if that doesn’t work for God? How can we use this time of reorganization in our schedules to intentionally prioritize more time with our Heavenly Father? God longs to have a connection with us. Perhaps this concept of daylight savings was something God put in the human mind so that we would be forced to rethink and restructure our schedules to allow more time for Him.

Whether we like time changes or not, let us use this time to deepen our relationship with Christ by spending more time with Him.

Suggested prayer: Heavenly Father, I am speechless thinking how you, the God of the Universe, want to have a personal relationship with me. Thank you for these times of change that you allow in my life to remind me of the importance of making time for you. I ask that you give me wisdom and may each decision I make be part of your plan. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

1. Daniel 2:20-22 (NIV).