Hello God, it's me, Mara

You know, Lord, here it is, a new year, a clean month, a new calendar, a bright new day, Thank You, Lord. William A. Quayle, in his book, “God’s Calendar,” has some fascinating musing about months. Some for January are:

The Calendar is God’s invention. The matter-of-fact Romans took hold of the almanac and called the months by the names which thereafter God’s months were to wear. God should have named the months — He is so much the Poet. Nonetheless, the Greeks, because of Poetry, did pick names. January is named for JANUA, a door.

January is the cold month, the month of freezing and frost. As the days begin to lengthen, the storms begin to strengthen; winter does frantic battle. Winds careen in tree tops. What glowing stories are rehearsed in January when sleet garments the world in silver.  When the sun shines on this ice owned world, then are marvels re-enacted before the eyes of men.

That’s when the birds are hungry. Do we hear music? That’s the wind jangling the icy tree branches or when seed weeds are like a chorus of bells. But — no bird breakfast is there! That is when birds grow half tame and feed with the chickens. Or fly to find a neighbor who has a bird feeder and forget about their usual snubbing folks.

The moonlight nights may find girls and boys on the rivers where the boys build bonfires in their cheeks and in their hearts.

January is winter at noon. Weather acts up now if at all. The sense of mastery, cold, cruel, relentlessness is in winter’s heart. It is a menace. Battle to the death is what January challenges to the oak trees and the chickadees; the wide-armed elms answer the challenge.

Thank You, Lord, for a lovely word picture of January. Ecclesiastes 3:1: “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven.”

Love, Mara