Lent #5: Extra Time on Our Hands?

Happy Leap Day! It's the time that comes along only once every 4 years...an extra day on the calendar. For all of us who are perpetually running behind, this extra day will surely come in handy!

Except for this reminder:

"Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. " -Charles Richards

I couldn't quite decide which of today's scripture readings would fit the occasion of Leap Day, but I think perhaps Psalm 49 and 119 are our best material, when we're given an extra day in the year to work with...

Psalm 49 talks about death, which might seem morose, but it isn't really...it's more about the practical reality of death...for all of us...the rich, the poor, the powerful, and the needy. In this way, we are absolutely, all of us: equal. During Whitney Houston's memorial service, Pastor TD Jakes offered a 2 1/2 minute homily on the subject of death...and here is the punchline: Death does not win.

Even when it looks for all the world like death has won...don't be fooled. It has not won. It has been defeated, and love wins. Psalm 49:15 says it this way:

"But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to be with him."

This is the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Simply put. Love wins. Life wins. And at the end of the road here on earth, God reaches down and takes us to be with himself.

With this good news as our backdrop, what is the Lenten lesson for us to ponder on this "extra" day?

I suggest this passage from Psalm 119 as a place to begin:

"I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes."

...which brings us back to Charles Richards, and our human tendency to forget that our time is limited here on earth. The clock is ticking for each one of us, and it's a wise thing to pause long enough to consider whether our ways are in tune with God...and then, Seize the Day!