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February 29, 2008
Feb 29: A Day of Hope and Re-Ordering
Leap Years are funny things. They appear, and they disappear. They show up every so often, and then they don't.
The story behind the reason of 'why' we have leap years is slight more important that we know when they are coming. So why do we have leap years? According to Wikipedia,"A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing one or more extra days (or, in case of lunisolar calendars, an extra month) in order to keep the calendar year synchronised with the astronomical or seasonal year. For example, February would have 29 days in a leap year instead of the usual 28. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of full days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected."
So...in fact, we ought to all be thankful for leap years. Not merely because they often give us five Fridays in February, but because of the space they give us for reflection. Like the proverbial year of jubilee, Feb 29 stands as a day of hope and re-ordering. Thats right, because of these days we, are able to get back on track so that our lives do not drift hopelessly off into the wrong seasons. Like the seasons of the church calendar, leap year days, call us back to re-membering our interconnectedness to the created order, and one another.
SO, here is my prayer for today. Use it as you'd like, but make sure, make very sure that you don't miss this opportunity to let the miscalculations and failures, shortcomings and over-compensations, the over-promising and under-delivering become rectified on this day of catching up with the cosmos.
A Prayer for February 29:
God of the Cosmos,
You have gifted us with an extra day this year,
that we might reflect on our drifting out of sync with you.
Grant that this day,
you would in your great compassion,
forgive us of the wrongs we have committed in our lack of trust,
and the goods we have done in our selfish over-compensation.
Deliver to us, hopeful Creator,
a renewed sense of timing with you, others, and creation,
that we might respond in time with your Kingdom and know more accurately
the way to love ourselves and our enemies.
Free us, great Liberator,
from the bondage and baggage of our past,
and bring us restored into tomorrow,
that with hopefulness for life in the age to come,
we may serve you to glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
may to day be a day of restoration for you all...
joshua
Posted by joshuacase at February 29, 2008 10:13 AM
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