Isn't every hour a gift?

"Don't forget to turn back your clocks, folks!" say TV announcers each autumn as we switch from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time.  "You have an extra hour of sleep tonight," they add, and we're happy that we've gained an hour. Honestly, what better way to use it than to sleep longer?

But time is relative. What if we really did gain an hour to our life? What if the Lord said, "Here, I'm giving you one extra hour." What would we do with it? Sleep? Maybe the end of Daylight Saving Time should remind us that every hour -- each one of them, including this one -- is a gift. That's why it's called "the present." Something my grandma used to say comes back to me at this time of year. "Live every hour as if it was your last." Instead of sleeping, maybe we should spend our bonus hour this fall in grateful prayer.