Arwen Mary Folkes shared this idea online. “Gentle January’: Gentle with ourselves, gentle with each other, gentle with the to-do lists and plans, and gentle with our creation. Gentle tones of voice to accompany gentle footsteps and gentle thoughts, all of which can be gently brought into our pauses and prayers. ‘Gentle January’ sounds quite inviting to me, better than a grey or dry January. Who’s in?”
My hope is that although this is an unexpected season, in the dark winter months, where we find ourselves needing to stay home again; that we will be able to sit lightly to the expectations and hopes of how things ‘should be’, or how we wish they were; and that somehow, in the strangeness of this season that we will be open to see the glimpses of God’s light and love, even in this. I recognise that it is tough, that many of us are exhausted, and that some days and weeks seem very long. My prayer is that we will be able to encourage each other, to keep going, one day at a time.