What Good is January?

    January is about to begin… Augh!
    For a lot of people, it’s the worst month of the year. There is the cold, the snow, the darkness, the post holiday blues...and did I say anything about the cold?
    Honestly, I don’t mind January. I enjoy sitting by the fireplace with a book or my laptop. I have a teenage son who takes care of the snow. Life slows down after the holidays and deep winter is a good season for me to gear up for spring.
    But January is also a reflection and planning month for me. The name of the month comes from the Roman figure, Janus, who was a two-headed deity...one head looking back and the other looking forward. The Romans named the first month of their calendar January, because it is an effective thing to look back as you plan the year ahead.
    During the cold, bleak days of January, I lift my spirits looking back at the blessings of the year. I try to list them out in writing and thank God out loud for each. I include blessings related to family, friends, provision, realized goals, and lessons learned. I review pictures, read my journal, and share highlights with the rest of the family.
    I also look back to learn from failures. I try to examine where I went wrong, time I wasted, projects I didn’t finish, or relationships I did not cultivate.
    A friend of mine instituted a tradition in his family that they call, “highlights and low points.” Every year on their birthday, the kids share their lowest points of the year before, and then their highlights. They close off their time talking about the lessons they learned from both and the goals they want to set for the year ahead. He says that it teaches his kids to be always giving thanks, learning lessons and planning for the future.
    That’s what January is for me.
    But it’s also a time to move forward. January is the first month of the new year, and it’s a great time to re-examine long term goals (5 years) and set short term goals (1 year). And of course, goals are of no use if you don’t make a plan to realize them. So January is also my planning month, as I enumerate the steps I need to take in order to realize the goals I have set.
    I think it is by design that God gave us the seasons. It would be nice to live in a place like Maui, where the weather is paradise fifty-two weeks a year. But then we wouldn’t have the blessing of being forced inside to curl up by the fire to re-examine life.
    January doesn’t have to be a cold, dark, snowing depressing month. It could serve as the foundation for the rest of your year!