The time has changed.
The clock dutifully adjusted.
This is the day of springing forward... and a whole lot of people grumbling.
I, for one, have never really minded the whole clock-changing thing. After all, it's just time, and an hour at that. We humans have a knack for whittling away an hour on a daily basis.
Mindless television.
Mindless internet.
Mindless gossip after church on Sunday.
Of course, the latter always includes that all-saving phrase, "I'm just asking so I know better how to pray." We all know that good Christians don't gossip; they make prayer lists and utilize a prayer chain to spread the word about a marriage gone bad or a job lost to an addiction.
Back to the time issue, though, before I have my own name added to that prayer list...
Time is a funny thing. We can use it to our advantage or let it remind us of our failures. I know this is going to be the oddest comparison, but consider this.
Waffle House.
In my opinion (I heard you laugh), Waffle House has got the art of time and organization down to a science. Case in point: the oldest has been home this weekend and yesterday he and I sat at the counter of a local Waffle House during a hectic breakfast hour. If you've never been in such an establishment, the only way I can describe it to you is it's like being in the middle of a very busy kitchen. There are no walls separating the customers from the cooks and any time I've been there, it's entertainment at its finest. Orders are being called out, eggs are being cracked open, and plates are being washed. As we sat there yesterday watching these people doing their jobs (and doing them cheerfully, I might add), I remarked how many employees there were in that small behind-the-counter space.
I counted ten.
Ten people working in what appeared to be a perfectly orchestrated event. Everyone had a job. They squeezed by each other, laughed it off if something went wrong, and stayed focused on the tasks at hand. I'm telling you, there has to be a study somewhere on the leadership style that trains this kind of staff and work ethic at Waffle House. When you can get your pecan waffle served hot right off the griddle in the midst of a dozen other orders being completed at the same time... well, somebody knows how to manage time.
Maybe the whole Waffle House scenario is not the best comparison to the whole losing-an-hour thing that we woke up to today, but I think it does serve as a good reminder that it's up to us to make the most out the time we're given. Whining and debating about an hour here or there does us no good. It is just a clock.
And that clock is reminding me that it's time to get moving.
I'm suddenly in the mood for another waffle.
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