What’s the Gregorian Calendar?

Happy Leap Day!

The weather has been really unusual this winter, although—in truth—weather is predictably unpredictable and therefore “unusual” most of the time in Michigan.

After a glorious January blanketed in heavy snows, our weather took a long turn for the warmer, and we had many grey days of heavy fog and dripping eaves.

It’s hard to walk through deep snow, but I think it’s harder still to navigate mud season.

Despite my love affair with the outdoors, during mud season I retreat to my elliptical where the footing is secure and the impediments and pitfalls few. However, once the roads aren’t too icy and the potholes more obvious, my heart aches to feel the free again.

It was in such a mood and on such an occasion I went out for a jaunt. I was making good progress when all of a sudden my left leg just sort of gave out. Something about the juncture where my bionic hip unites with my femur. Not sure why, but I can get unexpected, sharp pain if I push too hard. When that happens, I have to stop and rest for a few seconds, which seems to give my leg time to “reset,” and then I can walk again. But, sometimes I walk with a limp. Limping when I’d rather be leaping!

This happened while I was considering that 2024 is a “Leap Year,” where February has an extra day. Do you know this old mnemonic rhyme?

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November.
All the rest have thirty-one
Except February. To keep up with the sun,
It has 28 days for three years straight
Then leaps to 29 on the fourth to not be late.

Well, I might have changed the last four lines, but you probably remember the first two. Why have a leap year? The most commonly used calendar in the world is the Gregorian calendar, which was developed in 1582, but it requires a recalibration every fourth year to keep up with the solar year, so they add a day. In truth, even with this improvement, the Gregorian calendar is 26 seconds less than a solar year, so by 4909 A .D. the Gregorian calendar will be a complete day behind the solar year. Should we be worried?

No! Should we be worried about limping rather than leaping? Well, if we’re over 70, we might be wiser to accept that we’re inevitably going to be losing a little more muscle mass year by year. That doesn’t mean to stop exercising; that means to have realistic expectations. BUT, there’s good news! The psalmist reminds us, “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever” (Psalm 73:26). This sentiment is echoed by Paul in the New Testament: “Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

We may not have the strength physically to “run through a troop” or “leap over a wall” anymore (Psalm 18:29), but Jesus calls us to “rejoice . . . and leap for joy” spiritually when we are persecuted for standing against evil (Luke 6:23). So, any of us can still be leaping in our spirits no matter how young or old if we’re standing for Jesus, who is the epitome of good: “Who being the brightness of his (God’s] glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3). Does it get any better than that? Jesus—God incarnate—came to earth and died for our sins, then ascended again to God the Father!

By the way, if you find yourself limping spiritually, take heart! God loves you and is patiently waiting for you to trust him fully. I love this reflection by Anne Lamott: “My coming to faith did not start with a leap but rather a series of staggers from what seemed like one safe place to another. Like lily pads, round and green, these places summoned and then held me up while I grew. Each prepared me for the next leaf on which I would land, and in this way I moved across the swamp of doubt and fear.”

If you’re not sure whether or not there’s a spiritual world to explore, please take a small step toward God by reading the “Coming to Christ” explanation at the top of this page. People say that believing in Jesus as our Lord is like taking a “leap of faith,” but once you sense His hand of love is reaching out to save you, it stops feeling dangerous. It’s really leaping into the everlasting arms of love! It’s “rebirth” from the womb of darkness into the Light of the World. Will you leap to Jesus and joy?!