Do you get that gosh-I-wish-it-were-still-Christmas feeling sometimes? Do you stare at a Christmas present and wish it were still under the tree waiting to be opened? Do you look up at the sky and wish that the sun would linger just a little longer?
If so, you may have a case of the January blues. Here are three possible antidotes:
1) Pray through Christmas cards
I’m always touched that anyone sends us a Christmas card, especially since we never send them ourselves. But there they sit, in a bowl, wondering when they’re going to be thrown out.
Before you put them in the recycling bin, recycle a little of the joy they stand for. Take a card a day and put it in your pocket or purse or briefcase and remember that person, that family, those friends, that loved one. Hold a good thought for them.
See how long the stack lasts. Maybe till Easter!
2) Be glad of the date
Do you keep putting the wrong date on things? It takes me a week, two weeks, or a month before I correctly put down 2020.
Every time you stumble over the year, pause and give thanks for this year. We can’t redo what is past, and it’s no use worrying about what might happen in the future. Be here now. In this year, this God-given moment that we’re meant to savor. It’s 2020! Pretty amazing.
3) Find that puddle of sun
In the middle of winter I’ve been known to stand at a bus stop and wait for a bus I have no intention of taking. Just because there was a sliver of sunlight to enjoy.
Okay, the sun is not as strong as it is in the summer (and remember how devastatingly hot it can be in the summer), so when it comes out—and you might have to wait a day or two—savor it. Give thanks for that sun low on the horizon. It’s saying, “I’m coming up in the world. You might not know it yet, but the days are already getting longer. Change is on the horizon.”
So look up. There’s always something to be grateful for.
