GENESIS 8:22<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cAs long as the earth endures,<\/strong>
\n seedtime and harvest,<\/strong>
\n cold and heat,<\/strong>
\n summer and winter,<\/strong>
\n day and night<\/strong>
\n will never cease.\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve been tired lately. The kind of tired that makes you feel like you\u2019re moving under water. I feel like Dustin Hoffman in \u201cThe Graduate.\u201d I’m at the bottom of the pool. Above me, people are living life and being productive, but man, the inertia\u2019s a killer and I just can\u2019t summon the energy to move towards the surface.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s nothing new. It happens every February. I get tired and curmudgeonly. I am a creature who thrives in the sun, turning my head to it like a sunflower. When the days are dark and have been for a while and will be for a while more, I get slow. My petals curl in and I hunker down to wait for the big thaw.<\/p>\n

We are designed to live a cyclical life.<\/p>\n

\n
• Winter. Spring. Summer. Fall.<\/li>\n
• Sunrise. Sunset.<\/li>\n
• Peas and carrots. Cake and ice cream.<\/li>\n
• Puberty and menopause.<\/li>\n
• Work and play.<\/li>\n
• Solitude and company.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  We need it all in even measure.<\/h1>\n

  But we are not even-keeled creatures. We like to rock the boat, even against our better, God-given nature. We think, yes! to the all-nighters in high school until we\u2019re drooling a puddle on our desks in third period. We think, yes! to an all-greens diet in January, but the world is murky at the bottom of another\u00a0spinach smoothie. We think, yes! to love and getting married and then can\u2019t understand why we don\u2019t \u201cfeel the love\u201d all the time. We think, yes! to this new Bible study and daily devotion and get cranky when it doesn\u2019t hit the spot each and every morning.<\/p>\n

  I\u2019ve been re-reading \u201cLittle Women\u201d lately and happened upon the speech Marmee gives Jo after Amy burns her precious book.<\/p>\n

  \u201cMy dear,\u201d she says, \u201cdon\u2019t let the sun go down upon your anger. Forgive each other, help each other, and begin again tomorrow.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

  Honestly, I\u2019ve always felt it was a little trite, too pedantic. Louisa May Alcott created a caricature instead of a character.<\/p>\n

  But in my February malaise, I read it differently.<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

  The sun going down is a big deal.<\/h1>\n

  It is a necessary demarcation of the end of one day before the beginning of the next. In it, God is reminding us that we must continue to change. And it is a comfort. Change keeps us moving. We are not stuck in the gray of winter or the vortex of hormonal teenager-dom or sleep-deprived new parenthood or the unnerving middle years or the anger that happened yesterday or the burst of manic energy that will happen tomorrow. We are moving. God is moving us.<\/p>\n

  He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows we\u2019d come to a screeching halt at one roadside attraction or another. We\u2019d set up camp when we were only meant to sightsee and move on.<\/p>\n

  And so, He moves the world for us. He changes the scenery even as we stand still. He brings in friends and takes them away. He brings about children and grows them up. He gives love in marriage that ebbs and flows, sometimes a tidal wave and sometimes a drought.<\/p>\n

  Right now I am ready for spring. I am ready for new life. But when the time comes, I will also try to be ready for summer humidity, and children growing up, up, and away like shoots off a maple tree, and golden years, and sleeping and waking, and peace after anger, and salads and chocolate, and company and silence, and all the rest He knows I need.<\/p>\n

  For \u201cas long as the earth endures,\u201d He will keep moving us along. And amen to that.<\/p>\n

   <\/p>\n

  Sunday Thoughts Link Up!<\/strong><\/h1>\n

  It’s time for another Sunday Thoughts Link-Up! I know there are many out there with wisdom that could encourage all of us. As long as it’s faith-based, I’d love for you to join up and then read and comment on what others have shared. Please also leave a comment here. Think of this as a Sunday morning community group that comes to you. And grab the button if you like…<\/strong><\/h3>\n

  <\/div>\n

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The kind of tired that makes you feel like you\u2019re moving under water. I feel like Dustin Hoffman in \u201cThe Graduate.\u201d I’m at the bottom of the pool. Above me, people are living life and being productive, but man, the inertia\u2019s a killer and I just can\u2019t summon<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/2018\/02\/10\/move-it-along\/\"> …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[21,13,22],"tags":[214,463,97,27,71,46,176,48,209,115,55,63,17,110,100,24,464,59,49],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mom-gene.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/sun-flower-2914973_1920-e1517246371592.jpg?fit=1920%2C1291&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8ca5p-19h","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4419"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4675,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4419\/revisions\/4675"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mom-gene.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}