Wiggling Fingers

Have you ever noticed that children do not know how to tell time on an analog clock?
Since most clocks are digital, learning to tell time on a face clock seems outdated for some.
You must be very intentional to teach children how to tell time this way.
I think it makes it more visual for them…and helps them understand increments of time.

I admire old clocks…especially when they chime.
A dear friend of mine does not like the sound of a chiming clock.
Hearing the chime every fifteen minutes is too much for her.

We have two chiming clocks in our home.
A grandfather’s clock in our dining room and a mantle clock in our family room.
Monday morning is when I wind each of the clocks.
Even if you set them exactly…to the second…they never seem to chime in unison.

When I lay in bed each night, I know the sound of each clock.
I can always tell which one is chiming first.
It is comforting to me to hear them faithfully striking the quarter hour.
I have both clocks set to the Westminster chimes.
I never tire of the melody.

When I was little, my mother had a digital type clock on top of our refrigerator.
Digital type…because the numbers were on square tumblers that rotated as time passed.
The hour tumblers were followed by a semi-colon.
To the right of that were the minute tumblers.
Next to that was a small tumbler, which counted the seconds.
How I wish I still had that clock…I have never seen anything like it.

There was a teenage girl who used to babysit me occasionally.
Since I tried everything I could to stall at bedtime, she bargained with me.
I can make the clock change whenever I want it to.
No one can do that!
I CAN! I will make the clock change. If I can do it, then you must go to bed.

Looking back, the bargain was a bit one-sided, but I didn’t know it at the time.

Mary would stand in front of the refrigerator and raise her hands towards the clock.
Abracadabra…she would say as she wiggled her fingers in front of the clock.
Change…NOW!
The clock would change…every time!

There were times she would hold the word a bit longer than usual…CHAAAANGE.
She was right every time…and I had to go to bed…every time!

I never knew how she did it.
I tried…with no success.
I could wiggle my fingers all I wanted…but the clock never changed for me.

She never told me how she did it…so of course…it was wonderfully mysterious!

As I got older…and taller, I could see the clock more clearly.
I could see that the small tumbler on the right, that counted the seconds, also determined when the clock would change.

So that’s how she did it!
She waited until the small tumbler said 59, and then she said Abracadabra!
I now knew her secret.

Getting older…getting taller…knowing the secret of the clock…not needing a babysitter.
All rites of passage.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

At just the right time.
Jesus didn’t wait until we got our act together…got a better job…lost ten pounds.
He knows that we do not have the ability to change ourselves.

We may change for a little while.
In our own strength, our change is only temporary.
In His strength, our change is real and lasting.

Jesus doesn’t stand before us and wiggle His fingers.
He doesn’t say, CHAAAANGE…now…as if He needed to wait for something to happen.

True change can only happen in us when we come to faith in Jesus.
Faith reminds us that while we were still our sinful, imperfect selves…Christ died for us.

I find such comfort in that.
I didn’t change in order to have faith…I have faith so that I can change.
The faith must be in Him…not in myself.

Faith in myself keeps me in front of the clock with wiggling fingers.
Faith in Him knows for certain that He holds my life in His hands.
I can trust Him…for my salvation.

No bargains!
Just His powerful love demonstrated to us on the cross.
That is enough!
Oh…what a powerful Savior we serve.