Today, as you are probably aware, is “Leap Day,” February 29, the day that only appears on the calendar every fourth year.  This is necessary because our 365-day calendar doesn’t line up perfectly with our planet’s full revolution around the sun.  One revolution takes a few hours longer than 365 days, so every four years we add a day to make up for the lost time.  But even then that’s not quite right, so every 100 years we don’t add the leap day, except for every 400 years, when we do add the leap day…!  Anybody confused yet?

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12 NIV)

On this particular day, when people (like me) feel compelled to talk about the passage of time, take a few minutes to read the full Psalm quoted above (here’s a link to Psalm 90).  If you think about our calendar confusion enough, you may realize that we live in a universe that is more complicated that we can fathom.  We cannot control everything around us.  Even the best of our days fly away before we realize it, and often our hardest days seem to last the longest.

In short, we are not God.  And that’s a good thing.

Psalm 90 reminds us of our dependence on God, our relationship to God, and our standing before God.  He gives us strength for every day’s labor, and he makes us glad with his love and compassion.  God is not bound by time; he is not confused by the rules for leap days; he does not even need to experience time like we do.  He is “from everlasting to everlasting.”  Before anything else was, and long after everything disappears, God is.

How good it is to be in relationship with this mighty one!  How amazing is his love, that he should die for us in the person of Jesus of Nazareth!  How wonderful it is that he walks alongside us, hearing us when we pray, listening to our needs and desires, giving us strength and peace in every circumstance!

Yes, Lord, teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

–Pastor David