Leap Year
God, in His perfect design of creation, determined the pattern of seasons, days, and years; it is all purposeful. As described in Genesis 1:14 NLT, “Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years.” According to the EarthSky website, the Earth orbits the Sun every 365.242 days, hence, that is the exact number of days per year, vice the 365 days we recognize as a year. God could have made each year exactly 365 days, but He did not. I do not know why, however, I do know that He makes no mistakes!
Our human-created calendars add in leap years to stay in sync with how the world God created works. In order to keep the calendar in line with the seasons, we have a year with 366 days, instead of 365 days, every 4 years; an extra day is added in February. When this fourth year falls on a year that ends in “00”, it must also be divisible by 400 for it to be deemed a leap year. Thus, to stay in alignment with God, we have to make adjustments.
2020 is a leap year. Due to the global pandemic, uprising against racial injustice and the divisiveness of the United States presidential election, most would agree it has been a challenging year. But, as Romans 5:3-6 NLT explains, “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”
This trial of difficulty in the 2020 leap year is a great opportunity for us to evaluate any adjustments we need to make in our lives to get in alignment with God! We can grow in a stronger relationship with Him by the grace of our salvation through Jesus Christ and the direction and comfort of the Holy Spirit! The Lord has impressed upon me to focus on the “leap” in leap year and the symbolism of a frog, because of a frog’s great ability to leap - to jump far from one place to another.
The frog can remind us to leave behind what is holding us back and to keep moving towards what God has promised us. In Exodus 8:1-15 NLT, frogs were one of the plagues used to get Pharoah to free the Israelites from bondage in Egypt; they experienced many miracles when they obeyed God and made it into the land God promised them. The frog can also remind us to jump over obstacles to fulfill our purpose; God’s ways will empower us not to get tripped up and to go further.
This 2020 leap year, let’s focus on God! We may not see what He is doing in this difficult season and this year may not look like any we would have asked for, but it may just be our time to leap to new levels and elevate higher in our purpose! With strengthened faith, we will have the ability to move away from our familiar circumstances that have held us back and not make the same slips we have in the past. The Holy Spirit will provide signs we are on the right path if we look to God and not our circumstances. This year is happening for a reason. He makes no mistakes!