Why We Must Spring Forward and Never Fall Back
Here in the United States, we recently changed our clocks by “springing forward an hour”, giving us more daylight in the evening hours. I love this time of year and really enjoy the vibrancy this change brings. I learned today there is a bill in the Senate, called the Sunshine Protection Act, that advocates for keeping this time change permanent, meaning we would not “fall back” in November. I have been wanting this for years and I really hope it passes.
In addition to the time change, this weekend also marked the one-year anniversary of when our country shut down in response to the COVID pandemic. After the year we have had, I really don’t want to “fall back” into any of our old habits that no longer make sense. For me, this includes a schedule packed too tightly for family meals together or an obligation to say yes more than I say no. Instead, family meals have become the priority, and yes does not come as quickly or as freely as they used to. Can you relate?
We may have changed our clocks, but are we actually springing forward? We are all at risk of falling back into the same routines God has moved us away from. Peter gives us an example of what this looks like in John 21. Jesus had been crucified but there were reports He was actually alive. A resurrected Jesus had previously appeared to the disciples for a short time while they were huddled in the upper room. By this point, Peter had left his previous life to follow Jesus and spent a significant amount of time as His disciple witnessing hundreds or even thousands of miracles prior to becoming aware of the greatest miracle of all: the resurrection of Messiah! If that won’t change you, I’m not sure what will.
However, some time had passed and Peter was unsure how to proceed amidst a new and uncertain normal. In John 21:3 Simon Peter said to the other disciples, “I am going fishing.” Jesus had previously taught Him to be fishing for the souls of man but for some reason, He went back to the familiarity of fishing in the sea. I am much more like Peter than I care to admit. After being changed by the events of the pandemic this past year, I often find myself going back to the old way of doing things. But Jesus does not take us through extraordinary circumstances for us to continue doing ordinary things.
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