Wednesday Wonder – February 12, 2025

We are heading into the time of the February blahs. We can have Valentine’s Day and even the Family Day long weekend, but we still get the blahs this time of year.

We often say it is because there is less light, but the daylight hours are actually getting longer. We do, however, tend to get more snow and more overcast days. That makes it feel darker and winter seem longer. It doesn’t help that those darn groundhogs in various places can’t seem to all agree on how soon spring will be here.

I didn’t always get the blahs this time of year. For many years, I didn’t notice the weather or how early the sun went down, only that it was getting light earlier and that the lights inside the arena were as bright as ever. This was the time of year to be training for competitions and test days. There was always something to look forward to back then.

That changed some when I went away to university. Glad to see the light when I had to get up and go to class. Not so happy to be walking home in the dark after a full day. The park by my apartment could feel very dark indeed. But there was always the February reading week to look forward to with time to relax and not study so hard.

And the cold, have we talked about the cold? I am a little happier when we have a snowy winter as somehow that just makes things feel less cold. I’m sure it is all in my head, but cold without snow just feels colder. Am I right?

There is always an upside if we look for it. Are you a glass half full or a glass half empty type? Some people can always find the bright side and others are determined to live in doom and gloom. Not sure I am always consistently a glass half full type, but I tend that way most of the time. Maybe you noticed that last year.

In fact, I like to think of myself as a glass always full. You see, even if there is liquid in only part of the glass, the rest of the glass is filled with air. It is always completely full. That is how I like to think of the Spirit in my life. No matter how full or empty I may feel, the Spirit has filled me up. I need only to tap into that fact.

In my sermon last Sunday, I mentioned the idea of counting down from 5 so you don’t have time to talk yourself out of doing something, usually something you don’t want to do. I have also tried a different kind of counting. That involves counting while I breathe in and out, slowly. Counting helps slow down my breathing. When I do that, I realize that the Spirit is filling my lungs and lifting me up to meet whatever needs my attention.

In the beginning it is said that the Spirit of God was brooding over the waters of creation. That same Spirit is all around us. It connects us to our ancestors in the faith, it connects us to those we travel the faith journey with now. In Bible study we keep hearing how the Spirit filled the apostles and other disciples to do the hard work of spreading the Gospel in dangerous times.

The Spirit is with and within us today. We need only to breathe deeply and fill ourselves once again. When we do, we are connected to God, Christ, ancestors and fellow travelers on the Way. When we do, things don’t feel so blah despite the weather or the world. When we do, we welcome God in once again and we begin anew.

Peace,
Rev. Mary-Jane