Weary, Dreary and Ho-Hum

My Three Gremlins.

“For I [fully] satisfy the weary soul, and I replenish every languishing and sorrowful person.” Jeremiah 31:25 Amplified Bible

“We can be tired, weary and emotionally distraught, but after spending time alone with God, we find that He injects into our bodies energy, power and strength.” Charles Stanley

January. The longest month of the year. Not in days so much as dreariness. The magic of Christmas is packed away, spring has not even winked at me and there’s snow, ice, blowing wind and cold. It’s grey, dismissive and long.

Parts of life are like January. The dishes are unending. The bills are unending. And people. Annoying, rude, emotional people who test our patience and affection over and over. But it’s these times that really define us.

Life is weary, dreary and ho-hum most of the time punctuated by intense moments. There are times of deep sadness like the loss of a loved one, financial problems, divorce and health difficulties. There are wonderful times too like the birth of a baby, career successes, graduations and achievements.

But most of the time life is weary, dreary and ho-hum. Boring. Boredom. Tedious. Yawn.

Many Bible greats had moments of boredom. My mind flashed to David spying on Bathsheba taking her bath. It takes two to tango. We know how that turned out! Then came Solomon.

Observe January. It looks cruel, cold and relentless. But there’s so much going on under the ice and snow we just don’t see. Plants are nourishing themselves. Critters are hibernating. Resources like water are collected. Vibrant pink sunrises mixed with blue dazzle our eyes. It doesn’t seem like much but without January, the rest of the year could yield droughts, floods and loss of precious resources. Or January could yield resources for camping, hiking, the Fourth of July, family reunions and beautiful flowers.

Your January. There’s so much our Father is doing for us with the tedious, same-old-same-old and boring. He’s teaching observation, prayer, more intimacy with him, rest and most importantly, awareness.  “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” He’s making you beautiful even though we cannot see the whole work. Like January.

Musings

Life is not linear, though seems like it. Most of life is the daily seemingly unimportant, frustrating and boring interrupted by the dramatic. But our Father is doing great things in us and for us during these times and we can’t see it. We can’t see leaves grow. We can’t see our children grow. We don’t see our growth. But it happens. Seemingly little daily things. No drama. No trauma. Dormant. Something beautiful will poke its head through the gray snow.

Prayer

Dear Father,

How we ignore the tedious, uneventful and boring. Thanking you for these stretches has been ignored because we don’t see how delighted you are working unseen and with the ordinary. We don’t see the beauty. We don’t see marvelous accomplishments. We are seeking it now.

Thank you.

Amen.