I always think this is the unloved month in our annual cycle.  It has no holiday in it, no pending weather change (except perhaps more or less snow and cold), and we face it while taking down the fullness of December.

In a culture that is permanently seeking betterment, we face pressure to make new year resolutions and set goals and…well, move on, people.  New year, new you.  You know the pressure.  Slogans everywhere are designed to motivate us.  

The problem? The old me is still dragging itself into the new year.  Maybe it is debt that I drag with me.  Or grief.  Or addictions.  Or other, less publicly acceptable sorrows and regrets.  These things are not swiped away by a slogan or motivational goal.  In fact, they can be compounded by the post-season depression and the isolation that comes with cold and bad roads.  

I spent the last week caring full time for my 2 yr old grandson while his Mom and Dad welcomed a new baby brother at the hospital.  I renewed my respect for young moms and dads and for single parents.  There is nothing quite like a bored and cranky child stuck inside!  Unless, of course, it is a harried and exhausted adult stuck inside with them….

While a child can be distracted and given a new focus with some creativity from the adult, adults on the other hand, are much harder to refocus on something productive.  Yet that is exactly what we must do for ourselves in this month.  We must parent ourselves a smidge here.  

If we find we are dragging around our old self and its problems, there is really only one place we can go to find balm:  the foot of God’s throne.   It is also the one place that Satan would prefer we not go.  

I would say find a way to open your bible and make time for prayer.  Not as a goal or a self-help remedy, but just as a way to bring yourself back to the one place where you are loved, accepted and provided for.  God will show up – you and I need only make space in our lives to listen.  I would also say push yourself to show up among other believers.  When it is cold and dark, and fears of illness rise up in us, we shy away from connecting with others.  Parent yourself into making the effort.  We are exhorted by God to not forgo this gathering together for a reason.  Our burdens are made lighter when we share them with others.  Isolation is fertile ground for Satan’s whispers. 

Finally, remind yourself that you can trust God.  God is not surprised by the stuff we are still dragging with us into the new year.  He isn’t condemning us for not being more improved or holding a celestial yardstick up to say “nope, soul still too small.”  God now and always leads with mercy and love.  Remember he came as a babe and lived as a man just so that we could know he understands all that we carry.  In this month, choose to lean in: into God and into His people.  The fullness of December may be behind us, but the fullness of God is always with us.