Tuesday, January 2

Winter Duldrums

Narrative Lectionary Daily Devotions written by Kace Leetch from Clergy Stuff.

Happy day after New Year's! How's your New Year's resolution coming? If you're with me today, then you've at least made 2 days of daily devotions -- goodonya, mate!

January is always a tough time for me, and for many others, too. The holidays are over. It's time to clean up from Christmas. There are no super cool holidays until April, unless you happen to love Valentine's Day or St Patrick's Day, which I don't. The weather is awful, and there's no warmth and no sunlight. There's even a clinical term for what I'm feeling -- SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder. It's more than the blahs. It's downright insidious.

Today's psalm recognizes that there are times when life just doesn't seem to go right. Maybe it's SAD. Maybe it's losses felt more deeply at the holidays. Maybe it's an illness that just didn't care that it was Christmas. Maybe it's a separation that waited til the holidays were over. Whatever the cause of your distress, know this. You are not alone. I don't know why I've always found that fact comforting. Maybe it's because depression, fear, shame, and despair all thrive in isolation. Knowing there are others out there, like our psalmist, who know exactly what I'm feeling, makes the pain less intense. And knowing that God is there to pick me up makes it even better.

Keep moving, my peeps. One breath at a time. One foot in front of the other. You don't have to solve all your life's problems by the weekend. Just tackle what's in front of you right now. You are not alone. And it won't last forever. Peace!

Narrative Lectionary Text: Psalm 32:3-4

While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah