Spring Forward

Whether we like it or not on Sunday we are going to lose an hour of sleep because it’s time to change the clocks again. Unless you live in Arizona, Hawaii, or parts of the world that have rejected it, twice a year we get go through a national week of grogginess. I am not a fan. While you are well within your right to reject the time change personally, it would mostly just mean that half the year, you’re showing up an hour early or an hour late to things (depending on which side you choose).

I don’t think the daylight really needs saving—sadly, no one ever asked me. It’s one of those changes that happens to us and around us that we have no control over. When this type of change happens, we can feel a whole range of emotions. We’re angry, we’re disappointed, we’re frustrated. Things were good, but now they’re going to be different. This kind of change was something the disciples experienced as Jesus entered the final stage of his journey to the cross.

In Matthew 26, after sharing a meal, teaching, and praying with his disciples the people come to arrest Jesus. Thinking that this change was unacceptable, one of the people with Jesus pulled out his sword and attacked to stop them.

“52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword… 54 But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?...Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. 56 But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

For so many people, the answer to unwanted change is attacking. If something is changing for the worse and it is in your power to fix it, go for it. However, there are some changes that are out of our hands. It is in these times that we need to trust that God is in control and that this change could lead to something greater.