If you thought December was bad...

I struggle with January.

The cold, the snow, the drudgery, the hours of darkness.

Last week when it was -25 (without the windchill) I felt claustrophobic...like the dangerous cold and darkness were keeping me closed up in my house.

I need more light.

It's rather ironic because we just came through a season that celebrates the arrival of the "Light of the world". So, I started listening to Christmas carols as a way of coping with January's darkness.

John Rutter, in his astoundingly beautiful "Angel's Carol" writes,

He is come in peace in the winter's stillness, like a snowfall in the gentle night. He is come in joy like the sun at morning, filling all the world with radiance and with light. He is come in love as the child of Mary. In a simple stable we have seen his birth. Gloria in excelsis Deo! Gloria in excelsis Deo! Hear the angels singing 'Peace on earth'.  
He will bring new light to a world in darkness, like a bright star shining in the skies above. He will bring new hope to the waiting nations. When he comes to reign in purity and love. Let the earth rejoice at the Saviour's coming. Let the heavens answer in the joyful morn: Gloria in excelsis Deo! Gloria in excelsis Deo!  Hear the angels singing, 'Christ is born'.

Now maybe you're like me, and don't find yourself rejoicing all that much in January. "Get through it", is more my thinking. But what if, for a moment today we dared to believe that this light that we just celebrated last month, has actually come to our darkness?

What if the physical darkness of January were a tremendous opportunity to experience the "Light of the world"? After all, we often appreciate light most when we're surrounded by darkness, not when there's already lots of light around us.

I'm realizing that Christmas is not a discrete celebration - an event to be put away with the decorations and remembered next year - but rather it is a life changing reality, intended to be at the forefront of our consciousness on an ongoing basis. God is with us! God is with us in the joyful celebrations of December, but also the icy darkness of Canadian winter. God is with us in all the seasons (not just weather) of our lives.

Light has come. New light that brings hope. Hope that warrants a celebration, even when everything else seems dark and frozen. Merry Christmas.