Dear Friends,

Yes, we lose an hour of sleep this Saturday night. It is the weekend when we advance the clocks by one hour and “spring ahead.” Like many, I am much more bothered by this change of time than when we “fall back” in the autumn.  It is more difficult for my body to adjust to that missing hour than it is to have an hour added. And, I usually grumble about “losing” that hour of precious time. It seems unfair – especially on a Saturday night.

But if I am honest with myself, I lose many hours. Those lost hours consist of a few minutes here, and a few more minutes there. Yes, I need a break from the routines of work. But especially with the onslaught of digital diversions, I can easily accumulate an hour or more of time each day that has not been particularly well spent or focused on what is truly important to me.

The writer Annie Dillard once wrote, “How we spend our days, is of course, how we spend our lives.” One could also say, “How we spend our minutes, is of course, how we spend our hours.” This Saturday night, I am going to try and avoid grumbling at the thought of one less our of sleep. Instead, I am going to find some time to consider how I have been spending each of my days; that is, each of my hours and minutes.  And I have a hunch I will discover that I indeed have more than enough time to sleep, to awaken, and to live the  life of love and gratitude to which I have been called.

So don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead. And even if you forget and are an hour late for church, I’ll still be glad to see you.

Faithfully,

Tom