DOES ANYONE REALLY KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?

DOES ANYONE REALLY KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?

We just survived another ‘time change’ weekend.  Once again our body biorhythms are out of sync.  Most of us will be affected by this manipulation of time.  Some to more degrees than others. Losing an hour of sleep, in an already sleep deprived world is frustrating. It is not easy to recapture that hour of sleep.  It can take days even weeks to get back on tract.  For most of us, losing that precious hour of sleep brings on a new level of grumpiness, irritability, inability to focus as we should, even a higher stress level.

 

The Monday after can result in lower productivity no matter what the calling or profession.  Our local school districts close for Spring Break right after time change Sunday.  Rightfully so.

This year seemed especially difficult for me.  I do not like the feeling; drowsiness, fogginess, and an overall lethargic demeanor. However, most of us do like the extra hour of daylight.  But who are we kidding?We all have that same allotment of time.  I believe an old proverb sums it up: ‘a blanket cannot be made longer by cutting off the top and sewing that top at the bottom’. How did it get so complicated?

There is the belief that there are even more accidents, more mistakes and slip ups on the Monday after.  I think I would be prone to avoid important decision making, business deals and even perhaps surgery on that Monday.  Not to mention the intricate domino effect of adjusting clocks, record keeping devices, equipment, electronic devices and so on.  It gets complicated.

As a hobby farmer I find the hour of daylight in the evening, means I have that extra hour of darkness in the morning.  There are only so many hours in the day.
.I decided to change the clocks in my home right around noon on Saturday this year.  My plan was to outsmart my body rhythms and do my own manipulations of the time change.  However, it got complicated. 

We decided to grill our dinner on that very beautiful Saturday afternoon; the first nice day in several weeks.  I knew I was in trouble when my husband asked, “When do you want me to grill, the old time or the new time?”  Good question.

Even with my best intentions to operate on the new time, we ended up going to bed on the old time.  Somehow, it got complicated. I had set all the clocks.  Or so I thought.  The next morning, awakening with the new time, I went to use the stove.  Confusion: was it set the old time or new time?  Old time; it had to be reset.  Last clock to change, or so I thought.

Got dressed to go to church.  Put on my watch.  Is this old time or new time?  Old time; adjust watch.

Got in car to drive to church.  Looked at clock; old time or new time?  Old time; adjust clock.

Got to church and most clocks were on new time, I think.  Some were not.  Frustrating with everyone asking: old time or new time.  And as usually happens, some poor souls stumble into church: old time.

Time change.  Some countries began using it in the early 1900’s. It is believed to save energy for evening lighting, extend time for shopping and outdoor activities. Many states never bought into this manipulation of time.  Our very own Texas is considering doing away with it.   It is complicated.

Time: man has written about, sung about it, tried to outsmart it, manipulate it and even put it in a bottle.

Wise Solomon from the book of Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 sums it up best:

 “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” 

We are helpless to change it, manipulate it, persuade it and we certainly cannot control it.  

Therefore, use the time we have wisely; enjoy it, relax in it and at the end of our time, have no regrets. 

After all, there is a time to be born and a time to die.  What we do in between is entirely up to us. Let’s not make it so complicated!