Changing The Clocks

I was at a conference this past weekend.
It was so nice to get away.
It was so refreshing to be around others who love art, music, and literature.
I was in my element, as the saying goes.

It was in my favorite place with Amish buggies.
I was in the city, with its Central Market, art galleries, and bookstores.
I parked my car in the hotel parking garage and walked wherever I needed to go.
I people-watched outside and fed my soul inside.

I had forgotten that during the night before I checked out, daylight savings time happened.
Phones automatically change to the correct time.
Even the small clock on the hotel nightstand reflected the correct time.
It wasn’t until I checked something on my phone that I saw that we indeed had sprung forward.

I lost an hour of sleep and didn’t even realize it.
I should have guessed that it was much darker at 6:30 in the morning than the day before.
The time change did not affect anything in my schedule because I was simply driving home.
It did cause me to ponder.

It was daylight savings time when my husband and I came back from our honeymoon.
We were married forty-three years ago and, back then, the clocks changed in October.
We were oblivious to the time change.
Our watches were the same time as when we left the week before.

However, the time change affected our connecting flight.
We gained an hour of sleep and an extra hour at the airport.
They lost our luggage on the way home.
I was one week without any of my things until the luggage was returned to us.

I am one of those people who love shorter days.
I know I am in the minority.
I love when the sun comes up early and sets early.
I loved it when my children were young because we were all inside, cozy before bed.

My children like longer days because they can take a run after work.
I remember as a young mom liking the early bedtime but not the early wake up time.
Children often get up with the sun.
Early sunrise means early rising children and longer days for a young mama.

When I arrived home, after the conference, I saw that my husband changed all the clocks.
I could picture him going around and resetting the microwave and the oven.
I could see him adjusting the mantle clock and the grandfather’s clock.
I saw him in my mind’s eye carrying his phone to make sure he set the exact time.

It wasn’t until I was upstairs that I noticed a small clock on a nightstand that had the old time.
It was in the “big kids” room where my grandchildren sleep when they are here.
It is easily forgotten.
It said the time was one hour behind the actual time.

I thought of the old Chicago song, Does anybody really know what time it is?

Does anybody really know what time it is?
Does anybody really care?
(About time) You know, I can’t imagine why
We’ve all got time enough to cry

I was singing that song in my head.
It asks a good question.
Does anybody really know what time it is?
All of my clocks reflected the new time, but one clock had not been changed.

It was still Sunday.
I had driven home.
Every clock in the house set tot eh new time, but may be a minute off.
There is One who knows what time it is.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4,5)

In Greek, there are two words for time: Chronos and Kairos.
Chronos is the measure of quantitative time or an exact time.
Kairos is defined as the right time or an opportune time.
We live by chronos time, looking at our watch or our phone to plan our day.

For God, who is outside of time, kairos is what we need to consider.
When it was the right time, the opportune time, the fullness of time, God sent His Son.
God did not have a pocket watch to determine when Jesus should be born.
God, being outside of time, set everything in motion at just the right time.

I should have left that one clock alone.
I should have considered it my kairos clock, so as not to be dictated by chronos.
But I am not God and I live in the parameters of this world, for now.
The One who made everything, made time for us, not for Him.

There is so much more to changing our clocks forward or back.
There is God, who always was, always is, and always will be.
God is outside of time, yet He watches over every minute of our lives.
Amen and amen.