Worst Day of the Year?
It's been a bit nutso around my house as we prepare to move, but I read this devotional in my email tonight and felt compelled to share it, word for word...
Worst Day of the Year
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
Habakkuk 3:18
Habakkuk 3:18
If
you woke up feeling especially blah this morning, you're in good
company. January 24 is now officially "the most depressing day of the
year."
Those
are the findings of Dr. Cliff Arnall, an English psychologist who
specializes in seasonal disorders at the University of Cardiff in Wales.
His formula for analyzing such things includes seven variables--the
weather, personal debt, monthly salary and even the amount of time since
Christmas, among other things--that determine people's feelings of
happiness.
He
figures January 24 is when credit-card bills start rolling in,
reminding us how we got carried away again with our holiday spending. By
now many of our New Year's resolutions have fallen by the wayside or at
least been riddled with pockets of compromise.
Maybe
he's right. Maybe you really are feeling it today. But what Dr. Arnall
may not understand is that our joy and contentment doesn't have to be
taken away by the bleak clouds of winter or the long wait until our next
vacation. As followers of Christ, a settled sense of well-being and
belonging can be ours no matter what our set of circumstances.
Hear
again the words of a man who knew what to do with a January 24 kind of
feeling:
"Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit
on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields
produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and
there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD, I will
rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength"
(Habakkuk 3:17-19).
God is there with you every day of the year.
(Excerpted from Moments With You
by Dennis and Barbara Rainey. Copyright ® 2011 Dennis and Barbara
Rainey. All Rights Reserved. Published by Regal Books, Ventura, CA
93003)
Olivia
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