End of year malaise...

has only one cure. Or possibly more than one. Here's what I've done today to throw off the malaise.

1. Our family devotional this morning was on gratitude and courage as two essentials for the ending of one year and the beginning of the next. Considering the many things that we have to be thankful for from God is an excellent way to fire off the year end dross.

2. I put extra Fat Free Hazelnut creamer in my coffee, accidentally. And yet the good accident that it was reminded me that sweetness can come from the unplanned events in life. Plus the extra sugar and caffeine gave me a kick in the pants for the morning.

3. Which is probably why next I cleaned out a junk drawer in the kitchen and then my wallet and then the bathroom magazines. Throwing away the Christmas receipts, the recipes that never made it to the favorites list, the expired coupons and the no longer helpful articles was quite cleansing--literally and figuratively.

4. We all wrote thank you notes for our Christmas presents and each missive is ready for mailing. I then went ahead and filled out our homeschool attendance record for December. Not having those tasks hang over my head is liberating. Plus, seeing we only lack about 30 days before mandatory attendance records are complete--woo hoo is the main thing that comes to voice.

5. I studied for my upcoming Bible study lesson. The passage is on Ex. 33-34. Reading how the Lord proclaims His Name as compassionate and gracious, abounding in love and faithfulness, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin and justly punishing those who hate Him stirs up a fervent desire to know Him more fully in 2009. The Word always shakes off the blahs.

6. I wrote this blog post as a reminder to myself that reflections of the past year are not cause for moodiness. Instead, the year past is a reminder of how God chose to order my life. In both the joys and trials, He used each circumstance to cause me to love Him more. Writing about that from reflection definitely brings a renewed spirit.

Have a Happy New Year! May you enter 2009 with gratitude and courage for all that the Lord has done, is doing and will continue to do in you and yours. For His glory!