Everyday Life: January

January spreads out long and slow

and I live in the days and the nights that seem to spread me out long and thin.

If you ever want time to slow down, simply wait for something important.

It used to be my birthday that made January crawl by at snail's speed, anticipation mounting daily as I checked off each calendar day until we arrived at the last day.

And then it was the bleak, cold winter that made it drag by day after long-midwestern day.

Now, it's waiting for signs of life growing well in the depths of my body, knowing that little green sprouts don't shoot up from the black dirt until due time.

Spring.

It will come.

The popping of flowers from the ground will God-willing bring the popping of a belly filled with baby and little flutters of movement.

Green and lush.

But today, January spills one day into the next.

I give thanks for the gray and attempt to live well in the length

trusting that the Creator changes seasons at just the right time

and is busy behind the scenes in the stillness of winter.