February

There's only one thing I don't like about living where I do.

February.

February is the longest month of the year, not the shortest, for me. A steep, dark mountain. One that even this Pollyanna finds hard to climb.

I prepare all year, every year, for February. I spend lots of time with God. Practice His presence. Count my blessings--keep them upon the tip of my tongue. Write about my good days and good times. Keep my good memories in a type of store inside my head so that I can go shopping anytime I need something sweet.

February here is dark outside and it takes 11 months of inside light to counteract its darkness. Nearly every February brings something unusually painful. This one is no exception. Tomorrow will probably be Skittles' last day with us.

This has been my finals week. Tests every day. Tests which require all of what I've put into the past year. Tests which require every inch of God I've put in me.

I think I'm getting around a B. Maybe a B-.

But not an A.

Yet the Pollyanna in me--or maybe it's God--says, "A 'B' is better than the C's, D's and F's of previous years."

Well, that's true. I'll let that encourage me.

It's rather like what my favorite teacher always says-- "I may not be where I should be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be!"

Amen to that.


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From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens -
the garden outdoors,
the garden of pots and bowls in the house,
and the garden of the mind's eye.
- Katherine S. White

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