If you feel like things are spinning faster in your life, you are not wrong. According to scientists the world is spinning faster around its axis. In fact, in the last month there have been 3 days in which the earth spun about 1.3 milliseconds faster than the normal 24 hours.
Not to panic, because evidently there have been periods of time when the earth spun more slowly. In fact, in 1972 a “leap second” was added to clocks, much as a leap day is added to calendars every four years. Since 1972 there have been 27 “leap seconds” added. Now, however, there is consideration of a “negative leap second” being needed in the years to come.
The lesson here is for more than clocks. In 1972 life moved more slowly. In 2025 life is going faster. Those of us who lived in the later part of the 20th century don’t need a scientist to tell us the obvious. Back then we had the luxury of adding more things to fill the space. Now we are constantly asking ourselves where we can cut back in order to find normal. When I started as a pastor, we were always trying to add things in the church—more ministries, more volunteers, more meetings, more teams—thinking that would enlarge the circle of more people coming to the pews. For the most part, it worked.
Now is the age of stewardship. It isn’t about more time or less time. Nor is it about more activities or less. It is about the “right” time and the “right” ministries. Stewardship is about sensing what the Spirit says about what matters and living that out. It worries less about time and more about priorities. It does what it is called to do and trusts that God-time will make a servant out of clock time, not the other way around.
My hope for you and your church is that you are a steward of your mission, not of your clock. Do what is important and do it with focus and intention—and joy!
