Hey Everyone! It’s me, Brandon, again! I hope you’ve all been able to transition smoothly back into the semester after a wonderful winter break. With that being said, we find ourselves coming into the month of February. Now I don’t know about any of you (I hope you can relate to me or else this blog post would be completely useless), but I personally find February to be one of the longest months of the year despite it numerically being the shortest month. For me, there are several reasons for feeling this way (I promise this blog post is not going to be a depressing one, so please bear with me until the end of this paragraph). A lot of the major sports that I follow do not have any huge implications at this point in time. College football has finished up a long time ago, and the NFL has their Super Bowl right at the beginning of the month, so once that’s over, the entire football season is finished. For college basketball, the March Madness hasn’t begun, so we’re still in the middle of the regular season, although there will be some good games to watch. The last sport that I follow, baseball, hasn’t even begun yet. In addition to just the sports, I am tired of the cold and am ready for the spring and the warm weather that it brings. Finally, we are currently in Ordinary Time in the liturgical year, and there are no major holidays coming up (unless you’re one of those Valentine’s Day celebrators), so it is easy to see why many people have trouble finding excitement or motivation during the month of February. With that being said, I’m challenging myself as well as all of you who may be reading this to utilize this time of year to actually make your faith even stronger. You might ask, “How?” Well, I will explain it through the rest of this blog.
This time of year is well known for being miserable in terms of weather. At this point, we are all probably tired of the cold weather and snow and ice, and we just want to feel the warmth of the sun on us. However, we can use this cold weather as a wonderful opportunity to stay inside and be close with friends and family. If we are cooped up next to someone for an extended period of time, we will eventually begin to share quality conversations that will include deep discussions and expression of personal feelings. These kinds of conversations can help us to either form a new friendship or it could help us to further enrich a relationship/friendship we already have.
Another aspect that being trapped inside due to the cold weather allows us to do is spend time in personal meditation. We can wrap up in that big warm blanket and crack open that wonderful thing called a Bible. Now I know if you’re like me, you’ve got enough reading to do for all of your classes, but reading the Bible can actually be thoroughly enjoyable. By reading it, you will truly be able to listen to the Word of God and see how he is calling you to live your life. In addition to reading the Bible, you can use the personal meditation to just be alone in quiet prayer. There are few things that could be better than being in the presence of the loving God. While it may be gusting winds and swirling snow outside, you have the opportunity to be warmed to the depths of your hearts with the wonderful God that we all have.
Finally, you may think that with this time of year, there’s just nothing to look forward to. It’s Ordinary Time in the Church and there are no major holidays coming up. With that, I have wonderful news! Ash Wednesday will be occurring on February 18th, and with this brings the wonderful season of Lent. We can already begin preparing ourselves for the Lenten season. With Lent being one of the most holy times of the year, it can never be too early to prepare ourselves for it. Although the Church may be celebrating Ordinary Time right now up until Ash Wednesday, we can use our personal time to ponder over how we want to better ourselves and the world around us in preparation for the Lenten season.
I hope that these little pieces of advice can be helpful for everyone reading this blog to truly appreciate this wonderful time of year that we have. Due to Valentine’s Day, February is often referred to as the month of love. I say we can spread that love out from just Valentine’s Day to the entire month and even the entire year. We are all blessed with the Holy Spirit, and we have the model of Jesus to live our life after, so we have all been blessed with the gift of love. We are called to love one another, and I hope that this time of year helps you to enrich your spiritual life, and that love may spread abundantly to and from each and every one of you.
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.” -1 John 4:7
This time of year is well known for being miserable in terms of weather. At this point, we are all probably tired of the cold weather and snow and ice, and we just want to feel the warmth of the sun on us. However, we can use this cold weather as a wonderful opportunity to stay inside and be close with friends and family. If we are cooped up next to someone for an extended period of time, we will eventually begin to share quality conversations that will include deep discussions and expression of personal feelings. These kinds of conversations can help us to either form a new friendship or it could help us to further enrich a relationship/friendship we already have.
Another aspect that being trapped inside due to the cold weather allows us to do is spend time in personal meditation. We can wrap up in that big warm blanket and crack open that wonderful thing called a Bible. Now I know if you’re like me, you’ve got enough reading to do for all of your classes, but reading the Bible can actually be thoroughly enjoyable. By reading it, you will truly be able to listen to the Word of God and see how he is calling you to live your life. In addition to reading the Bible, you can use the personal meditation to just be alone in quiet prayer. There are few things that could be better than being in the presence of the loving God. While it may be gusting winds and swirling snow outside, you have the opportunity to be warmed to the depths of your hearts with the wonderful God that we all have.
Finally, you may think that with this time of year, there’s just nothing to look forward to. It’s Ordinary Time in the Church and there are no major holidays coming up. With that, I have wonderful news! Ash Wednesday will be occurring on February 18th, and with this brings the wonderful season of Lent. We can already begin preparing ourselves for the Lenten season. With Lent being one of the most holy times of the year, it can never be too early to prepare ourselves for it. Although the Church may be celebrating Ordinary Time right now up until Ash Wednesday, we can use our personal time to ponder over how we want to better ourselves and the world around us in preparation for the Lenten season.
I hope that these little pieces of advice can be helpful for everyone reading this blog to truly appreciate this wonderful time of year that we have. Due to Valentine’s Day, February is often referred to as the month of love. I say we can spread that love out from just Valentine’s Day to the entire month and even the entire year. We are all blessed with the Holy Spirit, and we have the model of Jesus to live our life after, so we have all been blessed with the gift of love. We are called to love one another, and I hope that this time of year helps you to enrich your spiritual life, and that love may spread abundantly to and from each and every one of you.
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.” -1 John 4:7