Today I learned a new time zone.
My first trip of 2026 took me, along with my husband Matt, to Newfoundland and Labrador to visit some friends. It was my first time in this part of Canada. And my first time to the northeast at all!
I expected to be amazed by what I would see there–stunning coastlines, snow on the beach. Generally what you would see in any Diane Keaton movie, but more Canadian. Yet, what amazed me the most was the time.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s time zone is off-set by half an hour.
It’s the only time zone in the world that does this. So when it’s 1:00pm on the mainland, it’s 1:30pm on the island.
It might not seem that blog-worthy to most, but for some reason, I can’t stop thinking about it! It makes sense when you look at a map and see how far east Newfoundland really is. Should I be this amazed, when every other place also has its own distinct time zone rules? I spend about 2-3 months of my year in Costa Rica. Sometimes it’s a one-hour time zone difference from my home in Florida. Other times it’s two hours, because they don’t have Daylight Savings Time. They don’t need it. It’s close enough to the equator that the longest day of the year there has only about an hour of sun more than the shortest day of the year. There’s no daylight to save.
Another thing I notice about time in Costa Rica is that when the sun rises, it’s fully risen. Contrast that with my home state of Illinois where the dawn lingers. The sky slowly brightens until you can finally see the sun an hour later. But in Costa Rica, when the sky begins to have light in it, the sun is fully visible about 20 minutes later.
Fascinating, isn’t it?
Time itself is universal. There are 24 hours in every day, no matter where you are in the world. Each of those hours has 60 minutes. That doesn’t change. The amount of daylight or darkness will vary depending on where you go, but the hours don’t change. You may gain time when you fly from the east to the west, seemingly adding more hours to your day; but it’s only borrowed. You give that time back on your return flight home.
Although time doesn’t change, the way we experience it may. Time seems to move slower when you’re in the doctor’s office waiting for test results. But when you’re having coffee with a friend, it seems to go by faster.
I think this is true of much of our lives. Fill-in-the-blank doesn’t change, but the way we experience it may.
God doesn’t change, but the way we experience God may. We grow and abide in his love, leading to deeper understanding and varying expressions of our faith.
The past doesn’t change, but the way we experience it may. We learn and get new information, which enhances our perspectives.
Experience cultivates empathy. I’m quite fascinated by this. The hard, black-and-white rules of time are softened by the moments it seems to move slower. The hard image of a lawful God is softened when we wake to new mercies each morning. And the hard, written recordings of the past are softened by the awareness that only a few perspectives have survived.
Where can you allow your experience to cultivate empathy today, even when you approach something that doesn’t change? When you approach a person whose mind doesn’t change?
Today I learned a new time zone. I experienced time in a new way. A never-changing, ever-constant rule of life–I experienced it in a way I never had before. And it was good.
Most things are not as black-and-white as they initially seem.