DST, Chickens And Christians

Tomorrow morning we all get to sleep in an extra hour. Daylight Saving Time ends for another year. In studying the history of this annual fall and spring ritual I learned several interesting things.


*Chickens don't adapt to the changed clock until several weeks have gone by.

*70 percent of Americans rise before 7:00 a.m.

*There is evidence that the severity of auto accidents increases and work productivity decreases as people adjust to the time change.

*The idea of daylight saving was first conceived by Benjamin Franklin during his sojourn as an American delegate in Paris in 1784.

*The present time time zones were first used by the railroads in 1883 to standardize their schedules. Standard time zones were established by U.S. law with the Standard Time Act of 1918.

*During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt instituted year-round Daylight Saving Time, called “War Time,” from February 9, 1942 to September 30, 1945, but after that confusion reigned as localities chose to observe or not observe DST.

*Since 1986 Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. began at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of April and ended at 2:00 a.m. on the last Sunday of October. However, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 extended Daylight Saving Time so that from 2007 and on DST begins at 2:00 a.m. on the second Sunday of March and ends at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of November.

So . . . this is the first year DST ends in November and that accounts for my confusion about the whole topic.

We Christians have some pointed instructions about light and darkness. Darkness for us is a symbol of what people do when they think no one sees or knows. Walking in the light, therefore, means that we believe we are forgiven in Christ for all our dark deeds and are guided by the light of God's revelation and love. Here's how the Apostle Paul writes about it:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
"Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil (Ephesians 5).