I remember loving the fall time change when I was younger. All of a sudden I was blessed with another glorious hour of sleep just before a glorious fall Sunday. But then…I had kids. Children are no respecters of daylight savings time. They are like the rogue states who refuse to submit to the system. The clock may say 5:30 AM, but it is still 6:30 AM as far as they are concerned. So needless to say, the “fall back” in time that used to be so joyous, seems to lack a bit of luster lately.
If I step back and look at this from the outside, I realize that this is just a season in my life. I am sure many of you who are reading about this are thinking about those teens you have who used to be the one’s getting you out of bed and who won’t get out of bed now even if their life depended on it. And there are even those of you whose kids are already moved out of the house and the noises of little feet still pit pat in your ears from time to time as memories instead of present realities (not trying to bring forth tears…just helping me understand my point). Whether you are presently losing sleep because of little ones or sometimes wish you still were, it reminds me that all we are guaranteed is the present.
And I wonder, do we really take advantage of that guarantee? In Matthew 6:34, Jesus reminds us “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” But so often we are so busy worrying about our children’s futures that we find ourselves not being present with them in the moment. I find myself guilty of this all the time. What is even more alarming is that our present actions have eternal implications. Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it this way in one of his early sermons, “the whole of human history there is always only one really significantly hour-the present. If you want to find eternity, you must serve the time(s)”* We live in God’s eternity now…in each moment. He is creating each new eternal moment and inviting us into it. Do we exist in the now or are we living for the next moment?
There are times I still wish I was getting that “extra” hour of sleep. But when I get to see the faces of my little disciples (children) a little earlier for a few days, I realize I only have so much time with them and maybe that is better then a little more sleep.
* Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas 2010 Thomas Nelson
arpology 
Andrew you are right to live in the present and so must I. I will never forget the quiet the house had when you and Alecia were both gone out for the first night. I sat at the table and cried. I loved every minute you were here and I guess we forget as you get older the hard times we had. I don’t remember you guys getting up earlier when the time changed but I’m sure you did.The only thing I haven’t forgotten of you guys when you were small was that Alecia did not sleep well for a year, that was awful for a mom that needed her sleep and you were sooo fast and into everything but it was fun and a challenge to wake up every morning and be with my kids and I thank God every day for you then and now.