Springing

We have engaged in the annual ritual of moving our clocks forward for Daylight Savings Time.  While there is a national debate on whether or not we ought to be changing the time once a year - and some locales do not make the change - this phenomenon can remind us of the importance of taking care of our bodies and our souls, especially when there is potential disruption.  1st Corinthians 6 (ESV) reminds us to take good care of the body, the "temple" of the Holy Spirit:
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

According to a Gallup poll from last year, over half of Americans would like to chunk Daylight Savings Time.  Only 4 out of 10 Americans favor it, which represents a 34% decline since 1999.  

But which time do you use?  Gallup polled that question, giving respondents three alternatives:  Standard Time year-round, Daylight Savings year-round, or keep things the same.  The results: "The plurality of Americans, 48%, say they would prefer to have standard time the whole year, including summer. Half as many, 24%, prefer having daylight saving time in place the whole year, including winter. The smallest percentage, 19%, prefer the status quo of switching between the two each year."

The survey summary also notes:

There is mounting evidence that the twice-yearly time changes can have negative effects -- such as sleep disruption, increased traffic accidents, and health risks, including higher rates of heart attacks and workplace accidents after time changes. In addition, studies have found that adding sunlight hours later in the day results in minimal energy savings. All of this may have contributed to shifts in Americans’ opinions on the matter.

The idea for DST might date back all the way back to Benjamin Franklin, who, when he was living in France, suggested, according to the Franklin Institute: "Rising with the sun would save the citizens of Paris, where he was living at the time, a great deal of money: 'An immense sum! That the city of Paris might save every year by the economy of using sunshine instead of candles.'  Over a century later, George Hudson, a New Zealand entomologist, "wanted more daylight in the evenings and presented the idea in 1895."

Several decades later, the U.S. implemented DST - Gallup notes: "Daylight saving time was introduced at the national level in 1918, the last year of World War I, when the U.S. sought to conserve fuel by extending daylight working hours as a wartime necessity. From then until the 1960s, the U.S. employed a piecemeal approach, with different states deciding to use, or not use, daylight saving time. In 1966, Congress passed the Uniform Time Act to institute time changes nationally in the spring and fall each year."

A Daily Wire piece quotes from historian Michael Dowling, who related that when DST was first implemented, opponents believed it to be messing with "God's time."   The article also said that when the railroads had attempted to implement their own "standard time," "According to The New York Times, Evangelical Christians were largely opposed to it. They felt that it was messing with the natural order of things and the railroads had no place doing so, but it didn’t matter."

And, there is that matter of scientific evidence that's out there about the adverse effects of moving clocks forward for DST.  The American Heart Association states on its website:

According to a study of hospital admissions across the state of Michigan, there was a 24% increase in heart attacks on the Monday following the switch to daylight saving time. In a study from Finland, researchers found that the overall rate of ischemic stroke was 8% percent higher during the first two days after a daylight saving time transition. Other research has found that, in general, more serious heart attacks occur on Mondays than on any other day of the week, making the day after the time change even more worrisome.

“We don’t really know exactly why there is an increase in heart attacks and strokes during the change to daylight saving time. It’s likely connected with the disruption to the body's internal clock, or its circadian rhythm,” said American Heart Association volunteer expert Maria Delgado-Lelievre, M.D., a distinguished Hypertension Specialist at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine. “It’s important to be aware of this increased risk, especially if you already have heart disease or other risk factors.

And, Denver7.com reports an increase of fatal traffic accidents during the week immediately following the time change.  

So, no matter how you may regard DST, which does provide more daylight in the evenings, but darkness at the beginning of the day, the lesson is that perhaps some action should be taken to prevent the adverse and potentially dangerous effects of the change.  

Also, we can be reminded that change is inevitable.  The question is how we deal with it generally.  Even though times and seasons may change, we can hold on to the unchanging hand of God.  And, we have to make sure we take care not only of our bodies that God has given to us, but carefully tend to our spiritual lives, as well, especially in times of flux.