Published: August 08, 2008 05:42 pm            

The Joy Lady: Fill days with watching, waiting

TERRE HAUTE — Our calendar is a funny thing. Up until the time of the Romans, people in different locations used calendars based on religious observances, agricultural seasons and lunar phases.

Then came the Romans. They established a year as 12 months, with alternating days of 30 and 31. March was the first month of the year, named for Mars, the god of war. April got its name from the Latin, aperire, meaning “to open,” as in time for the flowers to open. May was named in honor of Maia, the goddess of plants. June was named for Juno, the wife of Zeus and the fierce protector of marriage and childbirth. Next came Quintilis, the Latin word for five. Sextilis (sex is Latin for six), September (septem means seven), October (octo is eight), November (novem is nine), and December (decem means ten) followed. January, named after Janus (the god of doors and gates) was the eleventh month, and February (Februalia was a time for sacrifices to atone for sins) was the last month of the year, and got stuck with the leftovers: 28 days. Once every four years, February was granted an extra day in order for the calendar to catch up with what was then thought to be the sun’s rotation around the Earth.

Then came Julius Caesar. He moved the first of the year away from the vernal equinox in March and placed New Year’s Day as Jan. 1. So the fifth month now became the seventh month, and the last month with remainder of days became the second month of the year. With typical Roman Emperor conceit, he named a month after himself and decreed that renamed Quintilis would now be called July in his honor.

Then came his nephew Augustus Caesar, who was not to be outdone. He wanted his own month, too. So Sextilis would be called August, and since his month could not have fewer days than Uncle Julius’ month, he stole a day from June and added it to August. So much for that alternating 30/31 principle. It was enough to throw an entire empire into chaos.

Then came Pope Gregory 1,500 years later. By this time, the sun had stopped doing the revolving and the solar year was established as being 365 days, 5 hours, 48 seconds. More or less. (For those who are not smarter than a fifth-grader — which at any given time includes just about every one of us — a solar year is the time it takes the Earth to revolve around the sun.) That meant the calendar was about 10 days behind the times. Gregory and his advisers devised a system in which every fourth year a day would be added, labeling it as a year that took a leap ahead. Most of civilization has been using that same Gregorian Calendar since 1582 when the day following Thursday, October 4, became Friday, October 15!

This thing about measuring days can be confusing, I’ll admit. Even Jesus knew we tended to mark things on the calendar. He knew we would be looking for signs of His returning. Matthew 24:36-44 contains a record of a conversation between Jesus and His disciples. They had asked Him, “What will be the sign of your coming?” Jesus told them “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” He told His disciples that just like in Noah’s time, people would be eating and drinking and carrying on, not knowing a thing about the destruction coming their way. Jesus warned the disciples (and us), “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

Our calendars should be filled with days of watching and waiting and preparing for his return. No matter what day the calendar claims it to be, for those of us waiting for the Lord, it should be a day of hopeful anticipation and joyful expectation.

“What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see, and I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace; When he takes me by the hand and leads me through the Promised Land, what a day, glorious day that will be.”

The hymn, “What a Day That Will Be,” was written and published in 1955 by Jim Hill and inspired by the words of Mark 14:62.

Verna Davis may be reached via www.thejoylady.com.

        

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