One More Day -- Leap Day 2012

This is a very unique day – a day that only comes once every four years – it’s Leap Day! Leap Day is added to the calendar in leap years (typically every four years) as a corrective measure, because the earth does not orbit around the sun in precisely 365 days. There are some exceptions to this rule since the duration of a solar year is slightly less than 365.25 days. Years that are evenly divisible by 100 are not leap years, unless they are also evenly divisible by 400, in which case they are leap years. Clear as mud, right?

Regardless, Leap Days are pretty unique since they only happen every so often. To help celebrate and mark these days, people do some fun and unique things. For example, Disney is keeping their Disneyland and Magic Kingdom theme parks open for 24 straight hours for the first time, opening at 6am today and running until 6am tomorrow. Their whole campaign was centered around, “What would you do with an extra day?” Tor them, they are offering special decorations, special food offering, and of course, special memorabilia, all in hopes of drawing people to spend their “extra day” this year in one of their parks.

Disney’s Leap Day campaign got me thinking. Their hope is that people would “celebrate” Leap Year by investing the day – and the money necessary – to spend twenty-four hours in one of their parks. It’s a unique campaign to be sure, and they are expecting record crowds coming out to spend an extra day in “Happiest Place on Earth.” Playing around with this motif, I think followers of Jesus should also take this opportunity to do something a little extra to shine the light and love of GOD in a world in such desperate need of it. Not just because we have an extra day this year, and certainly not just for happy places to visit on earth (though for full disclosure, I LOVE Disney World!), but because we were created for far more than happiness in the here-and-now!

So often, we think of time as a commodity that we never have enough of. In some ways, especially since we live in a temporal world, that is true. The fact of the matter, however, is that GOD transcends time, and this is primarily important as He seeks to bring all of us into a saving relationship with Him through Jesus. But you know what? Our souls are eternal, too. Sure, our bodies will wear out and we will one day cease to walk this earth, but our souls will live on, and when that happens, GOD wants that to be with Him in heaven.

One of the primary emphases of the Lenten season is to remind us of our mortality. Some people live as though they will live on the earth forever. Others live as though this existence is all there is. Jesus was adamant that neither of these propositions is true, so it is imperative that we live acknowledging the focus of Ash Wednesday and the entire season of Lent: that from dust we come and to dust we will return (Genesis 3.19). Contained within our dusty nature, however, is the soul that GOD created specifically for the purpose of worship and relationship; not just in the here-and-now, but also for eternity!

Disney asks a great question, “What would you do with one more day?” I’d like to see us redeem that and understand that we are about something far more significant than just one more day, because eternity is real! If you would live differently just because today is Leap Day, why not approach each and every day with the same vim and vigor? We were made to live forever with the Lord in heaven, and once we are united with Him there, the whole notion of “one more day” will mean something entirely different, for then, we will bask in the eternal glow of GOD’s light and love.

If you have yet to do so, take this opportunity to turn your “one more day” into the blessed assurance of life eternal with GOD through Jesus Christ! We were created for so much more than this, so may we start living it…not just because we get “one more day,” but because GOD has planned us for eternity! May this Good News cause you to leap for joy today and every day!

Happy Leap Day!