If the skies are gray and your spirits are low, remember that you worship an awesome God who rescued you from sin. Praise him for his faithfulness, kindness, and mercy. Keep pressing onward, even on a dreary January day!
Hi, this is Joni Eareckson Tada, and welcome to Joni and Friends.
The other Saturday it was so dreary and rainy outside. It was cold; the sky was gray. It sure is funny how a day like that can shift your mood – how it can put a damper on your spirits. Or maybe it’s just this time of year. There is a kind of – I don’t know, a kind of emptiness, a quietness that can feel hollow. The trees are stark, the lawn is brown, the rain splatters against the window.
Well, I was not about to let the dark clouds get me down, so I decided to cheer myself up with a cup of tea and a book of favorite poems. Ken was kind enough to start a fire, and as he was doing that, I began looking through the poems and came across this remarkable one by Ruth Harms Calkins. And it is called, of all things: January. And this is how the poem goes...
It's January, Lord –
the drab, dreary middle –
and my thoughts
are as drab as the miserable month.
Does everybody hit a January slump,
or am I the only one?
The first week wasn't too bad;
there were Christmas thank-yous to write...
a few resolutions to store away...
the huddle of year-end sales.
But thank-you notes bring no returns,
and resolutions are quickly broken,
and marked-down trinkets fast lose appeal.
When you said, “Behold, I make all things new,”
did you forget January, Lord?
Or, in January, do I sometimes forget you?
Oh, I closed that book of poems because that really summed it up for me. Because if I don’t watch it – if you don’t watch it – we can forget the goodness of the Lord; his bright, sun-shiny love on a cold, rainy Saturday afternoon, or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday afternoon… whatever. I think this is probably why the Psalms constantly tell us to remember. In Psalm 77, it begins with those wonderfully heartwarming words, “I will remember.” Let’s remember as this year gets well underway that the Spirit of the Living God is with us constantly, good days and bad, cold days and warm, rainy days and bright. Our circumstances may change, our surroundings may shift, our situations in life may alter, but God is all together changeless.
So covenant with me today and say, “I will remember the goodness of the Lord. I will not forget his many kindnesses toward me. I will praise him for his faithfulness in my days past. I will remember what he did for me on the cross, and I will remember his promise that he is coming again. I will not forget my focus; I will not forget my mission, my reason for living. I will not forget that I was purchased with a price – that I was redeemed, that I had been saved and rescued. I will remember – even in this bleak month of January – I will remember to press on, to strive, to push forward, pray toward, love, and trust, and work out my own salvation with fear and trembling because our God is an awesome God, a great God. He is the God of all my Januarys!
Oh, and please know that we at Joni and Friends care about your struggles, too. Whether it’s an upcoming surgery, or a prodigal child gone astray, or the salvation of a family member, or a painful chronic condition for which you just need endurance, contact us today on my radio page at joniradio.org. We want to hear from you, and we want to join our Savior in heaven in interceding for your special needs.
© Joni and Friends