An Hour
Every fall, we gain an hour and complain about what it costs us.
The clock moves backward. Sixty minutes are placed back into our hands. We wake on Sunday morning feeling slightly more rested, pleased with the small refund of time.
Then Monday comes.
The sun begins disappearing before the workday is finished. The drive home happens beneath a fading sky. By the time dinner is on the table, night has already settled against the windows. We gained an hour, yet somehow the days feel shorter.
That is the strange thing about time. Its value has never been measured by minutes alone.
An hour in a hospital waiting room is not the same as an hour with someone you love. An hour spent afraid bears little resemblance to an hour filled with laughter. The clock may give each one the same sixty minutes, but the soul knows they are not equal.
In the fall, we are given more time and miss the light.
I wonder how often we make that same exchange in other parts of life.
We work longer to gain more and lose the evenings we were trying to provide for. We fill our calendars with opportunities and leave no room to enjoy the life those opportunities were supposed to create. We chase influence, achievement, and comfort, then wonder why the world around us has begun to feel dim.
Some gains are more expensive than they appear.
Jesus once asked what it would profit someone to gain the whole world and lose his soul. It is one of the most unsettling questions in Scripture because it exposes the danger hidden inside a successful exchange. A person can gain exactly what they pursued and still discover they surrendered something far more valuable.
This fall, we will change the clocks. We will gain an hour and lose an evening of light.
Perhaps it is worth asking what else we have gained lately, and what it may have cost us.
Because more time is only a gift when we are still able to see what matters within it.
If this made you pause and think, share it with someone who may need the reminder.
#FirstLight #Faith #DaylightSavingTime #Perspective #Wisdom #ChristianLiving