The Extra Hour

Don’t forget to set your clocks back Saturday night!

The long-awaited extra hour that we always dream of is here!! What are you going to do with it?? The first thing that comes to my mind is sleep!! But, what are all of those things that we talk about doing if we had an extra hour… if I had an hour, I’d get the laundry finished … or clean out the closet … or …

A few years ago, I forgot to set my clock back. This was before the Edge … so maybe it was quite a few years ago. Where I normally arrived at 9:30 for Sunday School – I was there at 8:30!! As I walked into the empty church, I realized what I had done and wondered what I should do. I could go get breakfast, or go home and do something … but I decided that since I was already at church, I’d spend a little time with God.

I found a seat in the sanctuary near the front and just started talking… “Hi, God, here I am … what can we talk about?” As we chatted about how silly I was to forget to set my clock back – and wondering if that was intentional on God’s part … I began to ramble about things that had been on my mind. Now, I couldn’t tell you now what was on my mind – but I remember feeling a sense of peace as I sat there. Things seemed a little clearer, and as that hour came to a close I remember feeling almost disappointed that the time was over. I wanted to hang on to that feeling, but as the church filled with my fellow worshipers, my quiet moments were gone. But the peace that I found remained. I was amazed at how the overwhelming stress and situations that had been with me as I walked in – seemed well under control and no longer a problem.

I’ve spent some alone-time with God in the Sanctuary with God since then – and it’s been very good for me. But it’s never been the same as it was that day. That unmistakable sense of peace that only comes from God himself. When I walked into church that morning, I was scolding myself for forgetting to set the clock back. At the end of the hour, I was quite certain that whether I set it back or not … God wasn’t going to let me miss our talk!

So, on second thought … forget that reminder to set your clocks back!!