“Spring” Forward – Not So Much (03/08/2026)

Last evening, as I was getting ready for bed, I realized or more accurately I was reminded that the time changed overnight. While I was sleeping, someone somewhere thought it was a good idea to take away an hour so I’d have more sunlight in my day. I’m not sure there is a worse weekend in my life for that to happen than this one. This week has been busier than usual. I planned on getting up this morning, but not so much “springing forward.” I was thinking more “sliding” – you know, starting the motion but then relying on gravity to complete it.

This past week was a bit of a whirlwind with a 12-hour workday on Thursday with the soup supper for our parish and a 12-hour workday on Friday getting ready for the family gathering by shopping and tidying and cooking plus early morning labs for my doctor’s appointment. And Saturday was a 12-hour+ workday hosting the family gathering of 15 to celebrate our March birthdays. I realize 20 years ago I could handle three 12-hour workdays in a row, but these days it is a real stretch. This morning, there was no “springing” in my bedroom; no, this morning it was at best a “slide” out of bed, getting myself sitting up on the edge and allowing gravity to do the rest.

But as I sat on the porch this morning with my coffee and my LORD, I admitted what He already knew, I had just a tad bit more energy than roadkill, but I was so grateful for what the week had brought me in those hours. So, I admitted the obvious, thanked the LORD for the gifts of time, family, and community, and begged for some energy for today. And thankfully, the LORD wasn’t as sluggish as me; He responded immediately, sending the Spirit to revive me and guide me into this day that began too early.

And I was reminded that time and life are gifts from the LORD and that both can come at us at speeds we are not prepared for in the moment, but we do not go alone, always and everywhere we have the LORD at our side. We have free will, but that only applies to our choices, and time and life are really the LORD’s choices.  So, it makes sense to me that I acknowledge my dependence on the LORD in these two matters, in time and in life, and then seek the LORD’s gifts, grace and guidance. This morning, I acknowledged that I needed the LORD’s help in bringing in the morning and living my day.

As we continue our Lenten journeys of spiritual renewal and a more focused life in our LORD, let us commit to using our time and our lives for the glory of the LORD and in service to the LORD and one another. Let us remember Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman, “the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Let us open ourselves to Christ fully, the one we need for life in abundance. And let us open ourselves to the challenges of the day knowing that we have the LORD with us.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.