Odd Hours

Odd Hours

Once upon a time I had a schedule—certain hours for work, for sleeping, for study, for devotions, and for leisure. I remembered with longing that mostly missing schedule as I washed and dried my hair at three in the morning one day. Then on another day as I finished editing an article at eleven at night, and once more as I eased my car onto the freeway barely six hours later at five fifteen.

My not-so-smart phone had clearly not received the message that we were in an extended period of scheduling turbulence.

Alarms kept reminding me of the times things used to happen: a favorite Bible study I stopped attending when work deadlines mounted. A beloved small-group meeting that conflicted with an evening graduate school class. A once seldom-missed weekly date with my dad on Friday mornings. Twice-daily reminders to pray the Examen (short prayers of reflection) at midday and evening. Once-every-third-week Sunday school teaching and once-a-month committee meetings. Ah yes. Such were my once well-ordered days!

But in a confounding season of odd hours, the memory of my former schedule grew fainter by the turn of each calendar page. Yes, I did fall asleep over my computer at two in the afternoon. And yes, I did breathe out a prayer of thanks for the bright, round, golden-orange moon I met at four in the morning. Yes, I baked cookies at eight in the morning and grocery shopped at ten at night. (No lines!) And at each odd hour I was reminded of what hadn’t changed . . . and of what has always been true.

God is never constrained by my schedule—erratic or organized. He keeps watch over me as I sleep, at midnight or at midafternoon. He sees my going out and my coming in, even if the neighbors don’t. He knows the moment before dawn when the songbirds begin to sound their cries, and the hour I finally sigh and fall asleep. And he is no more or no less present in my ordered days than he is in the odd, uneven hours.

He will not let you stumble. . . . Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.

Psalm 121:3-4