There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

1 Corinthians 12:4-6

As someone who is completely committed to enjoying life in – as Jesus says – all of its fullness, February 29 has got to be one of the great gifts. Think about it; this whole entire day goes by and I am – technically – no closer to my next birthday than I was yesterday.

It’s like free time. Not like a break between projects (or if you’re in school, recess, or some time off in your schedule), but Free Time. Bonus existence. Twenty-four hours just gifted.

Don’t worry, I am not losing my marbles. But I do understand that measured – chronos – time is not an actual thing so much as a product of the relationship between the movement of the Earth around our sun (both of which are hurtling through space as part of our galaxy, the Milky Way) and this planet’s own rotation on its axis. We call one a “year” and the other a “day.”

So anyway, I am grateful for this day, this leap day, this bissextile year, this bonus.

This is as good a “time” as any, then, to share the best of my February photographs; or at least 29 images that tell a little of the story of these 29 days.

Stained glass in our church, the bird sanctuary, the visit by a pew full of Presbyterians from 1874, my speaking trip to Ohio, life around Tarboro, and Rebekah’s first cataract surgery.

Enjoy – DEREK