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Today is leap day. We gained a whole day and February is not so short this year.
Once every four years is a leap year, in which we add a day to the calendar to be properly aligned with the Earth's rotation around the sun. A year has approximately 365.25 days, so it is necessary to add an extra day every four years to keep our calendars accurate.
Six hours may not seem like a big deal. But after 10 years without a leap day, the calendar would be off by 2.5 days, after a century, a whopping 25 days. Over time, the natural seasons would literally occur at a totally different time of year. Imagine summer in November.
A year has approximately 365.25 days, so it is necessary to add an extra day every four years to keep our calendars accurate.
Before the modern Gregorian calendar, people used the 365-day Julian calendar created by the Roman emperor Julius Caesar in 46 BC. C. It included a leap year every four years, but his calculations were not entirely correct: there were 11 extra minutes per year. This gradually shifted the schedule.
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In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII's astronomers identified the error and implemented the calendar and leap year system we use today. But since the calendar was 11 minutes off for more than 1,600 years, something had to be done to correct it.
The Pope decided that to update the calendar 10 days would have to be removed. Then, October 4, 1582 was followed by October 15, 1582. Ten days were erased from history forever! What happened during those 10 days is not part of the historical record.
It's amazing to think that there are 10 days in history that never happened. Imagine if you could choose 10 days from your past and delete them from history.
Ten days where your deepest disappointments, your biggest mistakes, and your biggest failures didn't even happen.
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It can happen to you because it has happened to other people before. His stories fill the Bible. Isaac was afraid and lied and said that his wife was his sister. Moses got angry and killed an Egyptian. David lusted after Bathsheba and committed adultery. Peter was bullied and denied that he knew Jesus – three times. Paul hated the followers of Christ and persecuted them.
But God forgave them and forgot their past. He used them all in amazing ways. Your past does not define your future. Your story can be rewritten.
New stories have been written for centuries. People have left their shame behind and their past behind. They have changed their ways and made a positive difference in their lives.
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One of the most uplifting unknown movements in America is how the incarcerated are training to become pastors. Prison Fellowship and other ministries are educating a whole new group of men who have experienced forgiveness for their past. They want to use their life after prison to share the message of forgiveness and hope for the future.
It can be difficult to believe such a wonderful message. It seems too good to be true, especially when those around us like to bring up the past. Too many want to remind us of what we did in our past.
But 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Everyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past has been forgotten and everything is new.” This means that all of our foolish decisions, immoral actions, and hurtful words didn't even happen.
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When we confess our sins and accept Christ into our lives, God forgives us and forgets our past. He gives us a new beginning, a repeat, a new beginning.
We are justified, that is, not guilty in the eyes of God. We have been acquitted; our record is clean. We can let go of our past regrets and refuse to dwell on them any longer. They are removed from our history and God forgets they ever happened.
Today is the perfect day to reflect on what you can add and what you can eliminate from your life. Add forgiveness and hope; eliminates guilt and shame.
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Holding on to the past prevents us from enjoying God's blessings today. And it blinds us to our bright future.
Move forward with confidence and leave your past behind.
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