This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)
If 2024 feels like it drags on a little longer than other years, you can blame this Thursday. It’s Leap Day! That extra day we get once every four years (mostly) at the end of February to make up for the fact that it takes 365 days and (nearly) six hours for the earth to make one revolution around the sun.
It’s that parenthetical mostly and nearly that I find most interesting. It actually takes about 365 days, 5 hours and 49 minutes for the earth to revolve around the sun. By adding 24 full hours to our year on Thursday, we’ll be (about) 44 minutes ahead of the sun. This is why we only get an extra day mostly every four years. According to NASA, that adds up to about three days every four hundred years.
To fix that, years divisible by 100 (2100, 2200, 2300) don’t have a leap day unless they are also divisible by 400, which is why we had a leap day in the year 2000. Got it?
I know. I am one of about 20 people in the world who find such things interesting. But thinking about Leap Years and Leap Days just might inspire us reflect on how we spend each of our days. Do we spend our days pursuing more stuff? More happiness? More understanding? Are our waking hours focused entirely on ourselves? Entirely on others to the neglect of ourselves? When do we take time for God? Do we take time for God?
This year we have an extra day, one more day that the LORD has made. How will you make the most of it?
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