It’s here. Leap Day.

A good thing if you need a day to catch up on things. Not as good if it means you have to work an extra day for your paycheck.

Why the need for this extra day? So that our calendars can play catch up! For the Earth to orbit the sun, our planet actually takes 365.242190 days. You multiply that excess travel time and it yields up an extra day every four years. Or so we’re told.

NPR has good article explaining much of the history of calculating calendars and details of adding a day—or even a month. A month?? Yes. As the article notes, “Hebrew, Chinese, and Buddhist calendars, among others, have long contained entire leap months.”

We pay tribute to those who were born on Leap Day. There is a name for them: “Leaplings.” Estimates are that worldwide, there are approximately five million people who will celebrate today as Leaplings. About 187,000 of them are in the U.S.

Some people take this quite seriously. Did you know there is a “Leap Year Capital of the World?” Indeed! It’s Anthony, Texas, and they live it up with festivities. (Anthony, Texas — and Anthony, New Mexico—seemed to have had a disproportionate number of leap year births within the two towns.)

And then there’s this rather interesting tradition involving women pursuing men. One legend claims that complaints from St. Bridget prompted St. Patrick to designate February 29th as the one day when women can propose to men. The History Channel reports that this “custom spread to Scotland and England, where the British said that any man who rejects a woman’s proposal owes her several pairs of fine gloves.”

(I’m sure many women wished it would have been shoes!) People in Greece and some other locations believe it’s bad luck to get married on Leap Day. Americans took up some of these myths and traditions as far back as the 1780s.

Speaking of Leap Day proposals, I have one! I propose we consider making each February 29th a “Leap of Faith Day.” Hear me out.

Those who read their Bibles will note the significance of Hebrews Chapter 11. It is commonly referred to by preachers and theologians as the “Hall of Faith.” Simply stated, this single chapter presents us with a long list of Old Testament saints whose trust in the promises of God would lead them to live with extraordinary boldness and courage in the midst of unexpected and often dire circumstances.

Moreover, Hebrews 11:1 gives us a simple and precise definition of faith. It reads, ”Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (NIV) And for those of us sold on God creating the universe, vs 3 states, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”

Next we read the stories of faith lived out by familiar Bible names including Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and the people of Israel as they crossed through the Red Sea. The list ends with this:

“For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” Hebrews 11: 32-34 (ESV)

Dramatic stuff, eh? And what about you? When have you had to exercise a leap of faith to get you past a serious life challenge?

What is facing you today that requires you to live by faith in what seems to be an unsolvable or immovable situation and to trust God? Perhaps Leap Day is a good occasion to spend extra time asking the Lord to take you beyond yourself to the place of “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

To make sure you take this seriously, write out a sentence or two about the things where your faith falls short. Ask God to help shine the light to move you forward. Keep a record of it—perhaps in a journal. Watch His Word come to life in your life!

This may be a big step in your spiritual growth. In fact, it might well be your leap of faith!