January is nearly over. The newness of the New Year has worn off. The excitement of Christmas past has already faded into memories. 

No more ornaments to hang, wreathes to place or presents to wrap.

No more casseroles to bake, parties to attend or fireworks at midnight to enjoy.

What next?

With the most celebrated holidays behind us, the next best thing is Valentine’s Day—not nearly as exciting. 

We’ve just come off an emotional high, the holidays, and now comes the emotional low, the cold, dark winter days. 

To be completely honest, January through March can be a rather depressing time of year. But it doesn’t have to be.

When you feel like staying in and sleeping the dark times away, think about your purpose in life.

Your purpose to succeed in college, and your purpose to succeed for Christ.

Luckily, we go to a university that allows us to fulfill these two purposes simultaneously. 

Christ calls us to do all that we do for His glory—college, careers, ministry, relationships.

Sometimes you have to get out of your head and into your heart. Silence the voice in your head that complains about the cold, the dark, the homework and the homesickness.

Listen to the voice in your heart that says, “Christ loves me. He promised not to leave me. He called me to be where I am. I will rejoice in Him!”

Sometimes all it takes is  a prayer to God, a meditation on His Word or an admiration of His Creation to make us realize how silly we are to feel down. 

We can rejoice in knowing we have the Light of the world as our closest friend in the darkest days.

The dark times may not always make sense to us. But that’s okay.

In his book Mood Tides: Divine Purpose in the Rhythms of Life, BJU professor Ronald Horton wrote, “I believe that emotional highs and lows are structured into us by our Creator for reasons we do not totally understand.”

These highs and lows are not random but have a purpose that sometimes God chooses to reveal to us, and other times He chooses not to.

Through the many emotional states in our lives, we can find peace in knowing there is one constant we can run to—Jesus, our Light.