January Doldrums....

True confessions here. I have slept the month of January away.

Most days I would get up to take the youngest to school and go back to bed. I would wake up for a few hours when the kids returned home from school and stay awake through dinner. Some nights I would have insomnia so the next day I slept for hours at a time to make up for the sleep I had lost. I've missed church, doctors appointments and life in general. Case in Point, My Christmas decorations are still up. Is it depression, chronic fatigue, Seasonal Affective Disorder, Lupus, Exhaustion?

Or could it just be that January has traditionally been a hard month for me. January has brought the loss of my Father and Grandfather. It is the month I buried a Son. It is also the month my youngest was hospitalized for an unknown breathing illness. January holds many sad memories and ghosts.

Whatever it was I had had enough. Life is too good to sleep away.

Sunday night my husband and a friend laid their hands on my head and pronounced a blessing of healing upon me. The hope I felt afterward was all the motivation I needed.

I called a friend. The first phone call I had made in weeks. She too was sleeping the month of January away. We vowed to put an end to our days of hibernation and made plans for Monday. Later I called the leader of our church women's group to check in and let her know I was back up and running. She told me of other women's January doldrums. No names were mentioned but she recounted tales of fellow sisters whose January existence was in their beds with the covers pulled tight up over their heads.

What is it about this month that sends so many of us to seek the shelter of our beds? Are we looking for an escape from our daily worries and troubles? Are the dreams that dance in our heads better than the reality of our lives? Or are we like the flora and fauna of the Earth and need this season to withdraw from production and activity to rest and rejuvenate?

If the above statement is true and January is a season of rest and rejuvenation just imagine the things that will be accomplished in the months to come for we are fully rested!

Let us all give thanks that there are only 3 days left of January and pledge that when we rise in the morning, we will stay awake to live and experience our day.