I am always encouraged when the month of February rolls around. Winter is a gloomy time of the year with the trees poking their naked fingers to the cold sky.

Some people allow these dismal days to depress them. But when the calendar says February, I know that the next month is March, and Spring begins in March. This helps me to get through the days when everything looks dead to the days when things start coming alive again. Let the lesson of the months encourage you. No matter how dark and dismal life may seem right now, just say, "Next month is Spring." With hope on the horizon it is easier to make it through the "winter of our discontent." Psalms 30:5 says, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

How exciting and challenging is January! Being the first month of a new year, it is an excellent time to start over and attempt to redo the things we messed up on the previous year. Everyone likes the opportunity to start over. Obviously any day of the year we could do that, but the first of a new year just seems like a better time. Why? The year is starting over. The months are starting over. Therefore we feel that it is just the appropriate time to begin anew. Let us purpose to draw closer to the Lord this year. If you have not been as faithful to the Lord, to your family, and to yourself as you should have been, the calendar is giving you an ideal opportunity to turn over an old leaf and begin a new leaf: January, 2010.