Late January and February can be tough, emotionally, in New England.  Even when it’s sunny out, things look kind of dead, and biting cold can be painful rather than invigorating, which is to say, not very inviting.

Christian believers will often comfort those who feel down by assuring them that they are loved.  As wonderful as that sounds, it can, in my experience, completely miss the problem.  The problem is that the person doesn’t feel loved, so fine… if this is what being loved feels like, what’s the difference?

Think on this, instead:  Your life is important because your experience of it is a relationship with God — or a relationship with the universe, if that’s easier to accept — and it is completely unique, and it is yours.

The question of what the other party to that relationship wants of you is a question you can work out over time, and if it helps, I’ll assure you that He wants what is best for you because He does love you.  But step 1 is seeing life as a relationship because a relationship is alive with possibility and the need for definition, with an allowance for downs, but the promise of ups.