Friday was leap year!! Every four years we add a day to our calendar to recalculate the rotation of the earth around the sun. The earth rotates in 365.2422 days. If we did not add a day, we would wake up one year and tulips would be blooming in January and we would be shoveling snow in September! Crazy right? Here are some things I would bet you did not know…
§First time leap year was recognized was in 1582 and they did by dropping 10 days from October. That’s because they were using a Julian Calendar which had 13 extra days then the Gregorian calendars that we use today.
§1712 they had a double leap year – adding February 29 and 30 to make up the difference.
§Every 400 years – Leap Year or February 29th lands on a Friday giving us an extra weekend.
§There are some leap years when we don’t add a year….1800, 1900, 2100, 220,2300, 2500 – all the turn of the centuries right? Well we still recognize 2000 and 2400 – because they can be divided by four….who makes up these rules?
The fact is Leap Year is just another evidence of how a finite man tries to control, contain or even understand the ways of an infinite God. God who has set the planets in the universe; has place every star in the skies; who holds all things together as Paul proclaimed in the book of Colossians. Man is incredibly resourceful and creative. The human mind has been able to understand many of the mysteries of God through science. We have tried to “make up time” or control the seasons by adding a day. Although creative a solution, we still can not map out a calendar in perfect sync with the universe’s rotation. As hard as we try, we can not fully contain that which only the Creator to do – bring about planetary perfection.
If anything, Leap Year should make people wonder – Who is this Creator that has set the Earth in motion that it takes exactly 365.2422 days to rotate? That all of our seasons and the precision of the rotation can not fully be grasped by humankind? Is there a being so complex, so powerful, so superior in intelligence and design that man must bow to this supreme being? The answer is YES – and He is the God of the Bible. The God of the heavens and the Earth. The Creator of all! WOW – Leap Year could cause a “Leap of Faith” if people will sit back and understand that man does not have the earth’s rotation “figured out.” Leap year is a patch on the knee of the pants!
As another Leap year comes and goes, be reminded that it is another reminder of how much we are truly insignificant when in compared with a Sovereign God. If anything – LEAP FOR JOY – that through Jesus Christ, we have entered into a wonderful, personal relationship with this God of the universe. Thank God – He can not be controlled by adding a day….even in a best laid plans we can not control nor understand God’s ways!