Lenten Savings Time – Losing an Hour

“The hour we are going to lose this weekend is the one I was planning on going to the gym.”  LOL, right?  I saw this today and thought it was pretty funny.  Attributing to the hour we are losing due to Daylight Savings Time something we weren’t all that committed to anyway — that’s art!  It’s like making the cosmos the responsible party for our cheating.  Great idea, right?

Well, after I laughed I started thinking about how this plays for Lent, but backwards.  Perhaps the hour we are losing might be put to good use, so to speak.  What if the hour we are going to lose is the hour this week that…

• we were going to waste piddling around on social media so as not to face or encounter someone/something, or…
• we were going to delay before calling that person we are uncomfortable with or estranged from, or…
• we might have filled with judgments or gossip or negativity after being slighted by someone, or…
• we were going overindulge in something not good for ourselves or others, or…
• we were going to shop for something we don’t really need right now, or…
• we were going to get through, but not devote the kind of energy our family or our work or our relationships deserve, or…
• we were going to secure our priorities and financial good, with little consideration for those in need, or…
• we were going to pray, go to church, read scripture… but not really be present, or…
• we were going to feed resentments or bitternesses or angers, or…
• we were going to waste before bed and not get sufficient sleep to give our best to the next day, or…

I wonder if you and I could determine that the hour we’re losing could be lost for our gain (and that of the world!).  What behavior or activity or attitude or character trait do we feed by engaging in or thinking about repeatedly?  Could we consider having one less hour of some specific thing this week, attributing it as “lost” due to Lenten Savings Time?  Just one hour less of something that has a hold on us…  setting the clock ahead on that behavior or attitude, claiming there’s just not time for it.  Can we do it?

So now I think that simple piece about the gym and Daylight Savings Time a bit of a gift.  In addition to losing an hour of something not so on-target in our lives, let’s do something else for Lenten Savings Time.  Let’s not make the gym excuse!  Will we, during this first full week of Lent, make sure that we don’t lose a positive we have opted to more include in our living?  Let’s not let go of the good we hope to nurture as habit, but stick with the discipline slowly, gently, hoping with God’s good grace it becomes part of our skin and our being.

Don’t forget to turn those clocks ahead tonight!