A graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology may have helped solve the problem of oversleeping. For an industrial design course, 26-year-old Gauri Nanda created “Clocky,” a foam-covered alarm clock with wheels, which runs away and hides before you can hit the snooze bar. A circuit board instructs small motors to move randomly so that the clock ends up in a new place every day. Before you can turn it off, you have to get out of bed and find it.

We say that “time flies,” but a wise person observed that “time stays and we fly.” Whether we rise early or stay in bed, we are being carried along by the mysterious force called time.

Each day, a fresh awareness of life’s brevity can encourage our trust in God. The psalmist wrote: “Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. . . . Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. . . . And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You” (Psalm 39:4-5,7).

What do we need to accomplish today? Perhaps we need to begin an essential task, address a lingering issue, or work to restore a valuable relationship before we fall asleep and need to be awakened again.

Life is short, but our God is strong.  — David C. McCasland