This article was originally posted in early 2022. In light of the recent public conversation about doing away with Daylight Saving Time, I decided to repost it for your consideration.
Disclaimer: Please don't take this article too seriously. If you don't agree with my conclusion, it isn't a big deal, we can still be friends:) It is meant to be slightly silly, but at the same time, to show that while the Bible doesn't speak specifically to every life scenario, the principles taught in Scripture are meant to shape how we think, speak and act in literally every life scenario.
On March 15th, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously (Crazy, right? I didn't think you could get 100 people to agree that the sky is blue) to pass the "Sunshine Protection Act" to begin in the fall of 2023. The act, if passed by the House and signed into law by the President, would end Standard Time and would adopt Daylight Saving Time permanently for all states with the exceptions of Arizona and Hawaii who always remain on ST and do not observe DST.
DST began in the United States in 1918, during World War I, in an effort to conserve energy. By most historical accounts that I have seen, it didn't have a significant impact on energy savings, but it was something that people could do to feel as if they were contributing. President Franklin Roosevelt (dude, it seems like every time I turn around this guy has done something else that aggravates me) instituted it year-round during WWII, but it wasn't until the 60's that it was enacted on an annual basis.
If this new law is passed, what this will change for us practically, is that the daylight hours from November-March will begin and end an hour later than they do now. For example, instead of sunrise being at 7:19 around Christmastime, it will be 8:19 instead. This makes 7:49 the legal shooting time for ducks...that's crazy! Who wants to wait until 7:49 to start hunting?! That's almost mid-morning!!
Oh, I forgot, you don't duck hunt. Well, for you, it means that your commute to work and your kid's bus ride to school each morning will be in the dark. One of our local public schools begins at 7:30...it will be pitch black outside at that time (you're welcome, teachers). It does mean, though, that there will be one hour of light later into the evening during these months, which many people will undoubtedly prefer.
Now, don't get me wrong, I like the possibility of not having to adjust the clocks and our entire schedules twice per year (those with small children and even dogs will have the greatest appreciation for this). This should undoubtedly be done. My preference, however, is that we adopt Standard Time (you know, the ACTUAL time) and end the goofy DST experiment once-and-for-all.
Really, what this proposed change does is take daylight from the morning to give it to the evening. Now, maybe I'm missing something here, and feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but won't this rob potential productivity from our working hours in order to add potential productivity to our leisure hours?
There is no question that light = higher productivity and darkness = lower productivity, so this doesn't seem to me that it will encourage more productivity during working hours, but less. Can we really afford to be even less production-focused and more leisure-focused than we are now? It seems to me that this approach favors our lazy bone, which needs no encouragement.
Is there any direction we can get from Scripture on something as obscure as this? I believe there is.
It seems pretty clear that the prevailing attitude of the Bible is that work is a good thing (Genesis 2:15). That opportunities should be capitalized on early rather than late (Proverbs 8:17). That laziness causes us to put off until later what can be done now and doing so leads to nothing good (Ecclesiastes 10:18). That morning is to be anticipated, not deferred (Psalm 130:6). That "sleeping in", while it may not be sinful to do from time to time, is clearly not considered to be a good thing by God (see Proverbs 26:14).
Is this issue a big deal in the grand scheme of things? I don't know, I tend to say that it is. But, maybe it is and maybe it isn't. You decide what you think. You very well may be thinking, "Come on, preacher, you are over-thinking this...get over it". And, you may be right. I just know that personally, I don't like the trajectory it sends us on.
I'll leave you with a proverb, published by ole' Ben Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanac in the 1730's - "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."
As God's people, let's wake up early and "Carpe diem"
Pastor Jeremy
Blogger and cartographer, Andy Woodruff created the enormously helpful charts below in 2015 as a visual to better understand the effect that DST has on our schedules. Which do you prefer? Which one honors God the most? Does it matter? -
