Blue Monday

Back in 1922 Goerge Gershwin wrote an opera (only 20 minutes long) in which the main character sings a song about how everything goes wrong. The song is the “Blue Monday Blues”. But in 2005 a PR company (or a scientist, supposedly) pointed out that the 3rd Monday of January was the saddest day of the year. The PR firm made this announcement for a travel company which was trying to sell vacations to the sun - so for them it may have become the best day of the year. 

In Dutch, “een blauwe maandag” (a blue Monday) means ‘a short period of time’ or an unexpected moment. So something can just show up suddenly, or show up unexpectedly in your life. Or perhaps something good might happen, but only for a short time. 

I can imagine people dropping into a sort of depression on the 3rd Monday of January. Family events are all passed, but the consequences of feasting and good fun remain. New Years resolutions have had enough time to have all been broken, leaving us frustrated with ourselves. The weather is freezing (or rainy as it is here), grey and wet. And the year stretches out before you. 

Or… the year is still to come! Look at all the new opportunities that God is presenting us with. And look at who we get to walk with every day. How we look at things determines a lot of how we feel about things. This year the congregation in Maastricht is focusing on Jesus saying “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” We will be unpacking that through our studies and conversations with each other. 

On Wednesday evenings we meet partially online and partially in person for a Bible study. We have started in the Psalms - to examine the truth - and this week we look at an evening song and a morning prayer. In both of them the message is: we are with the Lord who is mighty and righteous, so we can sleep and be at peace when we wake each new day. 

Our year looks a bit uncertain. We are making plans for our trip to the US in May and June, trying to make sure we get as many people and congregations worked in as possible. This month the churches here get together to plan and look forward to the various Bible Camp weeks and how we can best serve our youth and members using this wonderful tool. And as a congregation, Maastricht is looking at how we can further encourage one another and reach out with the gospel. 

This is exciting! It’s not depressing, no matter the weather. It is not temporary, flitting away like the birds that inhabit our bushes. It is not a time when everything bad is happening at once - and even if it is, we walk with the Almighty God at our side, so we can handle it (because He can handle it). 

We are excited about a new study with our English-speakers, of chances to gather to regularly pray, of planning new activities to share with each other and those around us. How has God already blessed you this year? What are you looking forward to? Wherever you go, go with the Lord. 

Here is a song based partially on Psalm 5 and co-written by Shirley. 

A day of detours

Have you ever had a day like that before? I got up 10 minutes earlier than usual so that Sean would be on time and so that, when I walk the dog I don't run into (literally sometimes - do you know how dark it is at 7 am?) anyone on the way. Instead we ran into the usual suspects on the walk and had to adapt - and everything was just fine.
On the way to my study with Mr. W. I dropped Shirley off at the shopping center - a bit out of the way, but we knew that we wouldn't be home until dinner that evening. At Mr. W. I was planning on talking about choices, but he had some other questions - about Jewish food customs and why Jesus didn't say anything about it (and I showed him that Jesus did say something about it) and how God would react to those who reject Jesus. And so we ended up talking about choices and how people react to the message of Jesus.
Leaving Mr. W. I had to take a detour that took me way out of my way and made me late to pick up Shirley. But she was waiting patiently and we went on to our visit and study with Willemien. Our time together was wonderful, even though we had to cut our visit there short because we had made a special appointment with LJ at the library in Maastricht.
Arriving at the library I had to find a parking place and we couldn't get the room we wanted at first. But the young man in 'our' room was willing to move for a little bit (we were shooting a video), we got everything done in plenty of time and Shirley and I got home earlier than Sean had expected. "What are you guys doing home already?" (But he was happy!)
After a quick dinner, Sean and I were off to his practice, back in Maastricht. While he was practicing, I got some work done and took the dog for her evening walk. The fields were quite muddy, so we had to change our usual walk. But the evening was dry and warm (I could almost walk with my jacket open) and Snuffles enjoyed it immensely.
After taking Sean back home I drove back in to Maastricht (this is a 20 minute drive) to get together for about 40 minutes with the university students who were looking at Hebrews 6 that evening (don't get stuck in the elementary teachings - move on to a relationship that is worth working on!). I couldn't stay as long as I might have liked. Stephan gets out of his basketball practice at 9:30 in Maasmechelen (about 20 minutes the other side of our house). It is so good to see how he is growing.
Back home I figured I would finally take off my shoes, put up my feet and chill a bit. Sean got ready for bed and came over to give me a hug ("You look like you need a hug"). When I went up to put Sean to bed (I love that they still allow me to do this - they are my little boys and I love them so much), he asked wisely why I didn't just go to bed - so I did.
Not exactly what I had planned at the beginning of the day - but when I leave things in God's hands and focus on what is being done, it all works out just fine.