Wednesday Read: Daylight Saving Time and Stolen Hours
Tomorrow (in most of the U.S.), clocks "spring forward" for Daylight Saving Time, losing an hour of sleep to gain more evening daylight. First proposed by Benjamin Franklin in 1784 as a joke and later implemented during World War I to conserve fuel, DST now affects over 70 countries. The time shift causes documented increases in heart attacks, car accidents, workplace injuries, and general crankiness as bodies adjust to disrupted circadian rhythms.
We manipulate time constantly - setting alarms, scheduling meetings, tracking hours, racing deadlines. We treat time as a commodity to be managed, maximized, optimized. We talk about "spending" time, "saving" time, "wasting" time, "making" time. But time isn't ours to create or control. It's a gift from God, and we're stewards of it, not owners.
The Psalmist wrote: "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). Numbering your days means acknowledging they're limited. You don't have infinite time. Every day used for one thing is a day not available for something else. This reality should produce wisdom about priorities - what deserves your finite hours and what doesn't.
Jesus had perfect clarity about time and priorities. When his brothers urged him to go to Judea to perform signs publicly, he responded: "My time is not yet here; for you any time will do" (John 7:6). He operated according to the Father's timeline, not cultural pressure or personal ambition. He wasn't rushed by others' expectations or delayed by fear. He had a mission, limited time to accomplish it, and clarity about how to spend each day.
Most people don't operate this way. They react to urgency rather than living from priority. They let other people's emergencies dictate their schedules. They fill time with busyness to feel productive while neglecting what actually matters. They reach the end of days, weeks, months wondering where the time went and what they actually accomplished.
Paul urged believers to "[make] the best use of the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:16). Not because God is stingy with time but because you have limited days and unlimited ways to waste them. Every yes to something is a no to something else. Every hour spent scrolling is an hour not spent reading, praying, connecting with people who matter. Time spent isn't neutral; it's investment with returns.
Daylight Saving Time reminds us that we can't actually save time - we can only use it. That "lost" hour tomorrow morning won't be recovered by gaining evening sunlight. It's gone. Every hour you have is being spent on something. The question is whether you're spending it intentionally or just letting it disappear into whatever seems urgent at the moment.
What would change if you truly believed your days are numbered, your hours limited, your time a gift to be stewarded rather than a commodity to be optimized? How would you spend tomorrow differently if you knew it was one of your last? The truth is, it might be. You don't know how many days you have. Use them wisely.
