Psalm 42:5: Why are you depressed, O my soul? Why are you upset? Wait for God! For I will again give thanks to my God for his saving intervention.
This is the low point of Winter. In February my mother used to lighten her hair color. February was just too dull. She needed to do something different, something that was lively and exciting. I guess for her, going blond was it. I understand. February has never been kind to me either.
I'm not complaining. But oh, the temptation is there. We look into a refrigerator stocked with food and think how tired we are of having to come up with something to cook. We take a Florida vacation and are upset if it is a few degrees cooler than we expected. People want bigger and bigger homes and are discouraged that there is so much house to take care of. Complain and remain.
Someone once told me, "If you choose not to find joy in winter, you will have less joy in your life, but still the same amount of winter." I'm pretty sure philosophers like that never change their hair color out of boredom. They would add hopefully, that this low point of the year is just the sleep that precedes the waking of spring, soon to come.
But it is dreary outside. Freezing cold one day and 50 degrees and rainy the next. My inner self reminds me almost immediately that most of us live in a relative wonderland. We have clean water at our fingertips, heat in winter and cooling in summer, entertainment on 120 channels, friends, family and those who encourage us even on those dreary February days.
Further confounding the issue, is the fact that it is not up to anyone else to cheer you. Consider David, questioning himself, "Why are you depressed?" And his answer, "Wait for God, for I will again give thanks for saving me."
There it is: Give thanks. Be grateful. Kick it into gear and get going.
Or, you can use the trick I use when I look out and all I see are gray skies, I pretend for a moment I'm on holiday in England. It usually works.
To quote a friend when I ask how he is, he always answers...
"Thankful, always thankful,"
Nancy
