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Tony Miles, Reverend at Methodist Central Hall Westminster: 
If I were to ask how many days are in a year, you’d no doubt reply, 365! Oh, and one more if it’s a leap year. That’s true, of course, apart from in 1752! That year in the UK there wasn’t a 3rd of September. It was cancelled. Today did not exist! In those days, the ‘Julian Calendar’ had been in use, introduced by Julius Caesar. The trouble was, it didn’t accurately reflect how long it takes the Earth to circle once around the Sun. 
It was a Pope, Gregory 8th, who then decreed there needed to be an adjustment to get time back in sync with things like the vernal equinox or the winter solstice. Gradually many countries switched to the new ‘Gregorian Calendar’. That’s why, back in 1752, the UK’s diary was advanced by 11 days; it jumped from 2nd to the 14 September. Imagine the confusion – especially if your birthday fell in the period! I can’t really get my head around what happened to those missing days! It’s like when I return from visiting my family in the USA and lose hours crossing time zones – where did they go? 
My little American granddaughter finds it amusing that when grandad is back home, he’s getting ready for bed when she’s in the middle of her afternoon. Poor old grandad clearly needs his sleep! One thing age is teaching me, though, is that losing time isn’t as bad as killing time or frittering it away. ‘Most time is wasted, not in hours, but in minutes.’ said the businessman, Paul J. Meyer, and ‘A bucket with a small hole in the bottom gets just as empty as a bucket that is deliberately kicked over.’ I believe the time I’ve been given is a precious gift from God and the Bible urges me to make the best use of it. 
The trouble is, though time is often what I want the most, it’s frequently what I use worst, or take for granted. John Wesley, the founder of the ‘Methodist’ movement, urged Christians to ‘improve the present moment.’ I like that! Thankfully, today hasn’t been cancelled, so perhaps counting time isn’t nearly as important as making small amounts of time really count – like spending precious moments with family and friends, and those who need me most.