Whew! What a wild beginning to the New Year! I don’t know about you, but the first week of this New Year has started off as if it were an entire month!

For one thing, there’s always the “close up the old year, begin the new” activity, a timely combination of turning over calendars, appointment books or files, and accounting and other “admin of life” things. Then, too, there’s the outside world that has a way of bubbling up in unexpected ways: A doctor who, himself, is very ill and has to cancel crucial appointments, for example. Or the wild and wacky weather of the past few weeks (I was there, experiencing winter storms with eerily long crackles of thunder and torrential rain).

Or, perhaps, the “wildness” is something else entirely: A health condition that seems to be difficult or impossible to understand and that paints itself into the year with unsettling hues.

I moved into 2016 with lots of uncertainty, pending medical tests and appointments, and a steely determination. No matter how “wild” 2016 becomes, I am determined to take a break whenever needed. If you live with a chronic health condition or pain that doesn’t seem to send, sometimes you have a tendancy to “push through.” But this can be dangerous, bringing on complications along with the potential for frustration, or worse.

So, if you’re condering if it’s okay to take a break already, in this first full week of 2016. Or, if you’re thinking, “I shouldn’t be tired/confused/anxiety-filled yet, should I?”,  believen me, a break might be just what you need. Relax. Rest. Meditate on the many blessings God has given you, which can become crowded out with our worries. And pray for calm, the “peace in the storm,” as I like to call it. And like the soaking many of us have experienced in the past few weeks weather-wise, His peace sill surely rain down!

Joys – and a very Happy New Year!
Maureen