january and new churches.

Four years ago, we had just moved into our house in Cedar Falls.  Laurelai was about five months old, we were neck-deep in new ministry, and I was in the throes of a serious health crash and likely some postpartum depression.  (It's hard to know: church planting and postpartum depression feel kind of the same a lot of the time.)  And it was January.

To clarify, it wasn't just January.  It was January in Cedar Falls, where ice goes to cool down.  It was a record-breaking January in Cedar Falls.  The temperature gauge literally did not budge above zero degrees the. entire. month.  That's not an exaggeration.  It was so miserable.  I was so miserable.

Fast forward to last January.  It was our first January in Columbia, and it was gorgeous.  There was one day I got in the van to run to the store, and I was like, "Dang, it's cold out!"  So I looked at the temperature gauge and it was forty-two degrees.  Apparently it didn't take me long to get acclimated to the weather down here.

But even though it was warmer than Iowa, it was still the first winter of a church plant, and it was dark.  I so desperately just wanted to go home.  I wanted to throw in the towel and turn around and be done.

If I'm being honest, there are still a lot of days where I struggle.  If I'm being honest, life down here has been hard in a lot of ways.  Good, but hard.

But yesterday, I found myself in another January, with another new baby, in another somewhat new season of ministry, and in another new postpartum season... and I was outside in a Tshirt, grilling burgers for dinner.  And it hit me how 'the same' and yet how different our life is here, and how every place has its hardships... and every place sees its moments of just reveling in being where you are.

So I got to revel a little yesterday, and it felt good.