 For all of my older, antique clocks, it is a chore, since they were made many
years before the automation could be built in. For the newer quartz or digital
clocks, however, when they were created, the manufacturer programmed the
springtime date and the fall date to automatically change the clock at 2 a.m.
to maintain the correct time. The alarm clock we have is one such clock that has
built-in automation that resets the time at 2 a.m. on the dates of the
time changes. On the morning the change was to be completed, it did not
work for my clock.It seems that since that clock was manufactured, the government has changed the
dates on which the daylight saving time goes into effect. The same is true for
when the time returns to standard time in the fall. So now on the new dates the
clock remains the same, until on a later date the clock changes according to the
way it was originally programmed. So, the clock becomes unreliable on at least
four days during the year: twice in the spring, on the day it doesn't work and
again on the day it does. The same thing happens in the fall. There are many circumstances in life when the instability and inconsistency of
change has made things rough for those who prefer to depend on reliability. We
are warned about dietetic restrictions with one research report; then later,
after another "study," we are told to forget those restrictions because it has
been found the restriction, as it turned out, was actually beneficial rather
than damaging.
 I wonder if people do not secretly long for stability in their lives as they
experience on a daily basis the motions of instability. Dependability is
something we count on as we put our trust out on the limb of life, hoping simply
to be safe by the day's end. We work and play each day of our lives, facing the
unknown during the next, future minute of our lives. What was stability
yesterday becomes a flotation device today; and by tomorrow we are lost in the
sea of change that engulfs our safety and security.
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 As we look around the world, we see the instability and fragile
existence of unstable situations that place thousands, perhaps
millions, in the precarious predicament of loss. It could be Russia
invading Crimea, the leader of North Korea ordering the execution of
Christians, the Islamic world beheading a woman for simply talking
to a man who is not her husband, the creation of nuclear weapons to
annihilate and entire civilization, the loss of a job, or not being
able to find a job, or a simple court decree that begins the
separation of two people who once loved each other enough to promise
in vows not to separate "until death" parted them.
Like that alarm clock that was created with a chip inside its
body that assured it would keep the correct time even when the time
changed, we have a built-in, created longing for something to fill
the void we feel as we sojourn daily through life. That something is
a connection to eternity that somehow we know exists outside ourselves. When the changes of life, both scheduled and unscheduled,
begin to take their toll, we want that stability of "knowing" all
the more. We have that foundational rock on which the stability of our lives
may rest if we just accept it. A familiar voice whispering through
the breeze many have listened to for their entire lives is the
still, small voice of the God of the universe who is simply saying,
"I love you." A most familiar passage in the entire Bible is, "For
this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have
eternal life; For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn
the world, but that the world should be saved through him." — John
3:16-17 This is a promise of stability for eternity.
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!" —
Hebrews 13:8
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
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