It seems that there have been a lot of gloomy days lately. Much of it is due to clouds and rain that has come and stayed in different areas of our country. I know this blog also reaches some of my friends who have snow and ice right now that can also lead to a feeling of dreariness. Sometimes, even if the sun is shining, we are dealing with our own gloom and the days remain dark for us.

Almost everybody loves a good love song. We often hear the message of a song more than we do that of the spoken word. On this Valentine’s Day, I wanted to remember the first love song that many of us ever learned. It was written in 1860 but has stood the test of time because its message is eternal, and it has been touching hearts through the ages.

I just watched Henry Winkler who played Fonzie in the TV show Happy Days on a morning talk show recount how he felt like a failure as a child because he had dyslexia. He said his parents, even though they wanted him to succeed called him dumb. Mr. Winkler said that he held no grudges against his parents because all that he went through brought him to where he is today. He has even written a book series Hank Zipzer Collection to encourage children who also feel like a failure. There are many reasons other than dyslexia that we and those around us feel like failures, whether it be something out of our control or a mess of our own making.

Have you ever heard the old saying, “True character comes out when you are squeezed?” We are going to be under pressure a lot. That’s just the way life works.  That’s why our true character matters so much. We think we know how we would react in a situation, but many times, we react differently when we are stressed or put in a tight spot, and I think I figured out why.

This week I want to introduce you to my friend, Sheila McFadden. I have known Sheila for several years now through women's mission and church events and have followed her amazing journey of adoption. She is one of the co-authors of Grace for the Journey: A One-Year Devotional for Adoptive Moms. Even though the title says "moms" this book would be great for anyone who has a heart for adoption. I know you will want to get this book for yourself or someone you love after you meet Sheila and hear just a little of her story.

As the New Year begins, I have been pondering why we love it so much. There are thousands of quotes that encourage us to start anew, to turn the blank page and start writing a new story. We set goals and resolutions to do better and be better, but there is nothing magical about the first day of the year unless we make it so.

I have noticed as I have been out and about the last couple of weeks that there doesn’t seem to be much Christmas joy. People shopping look tired and drained of expression. I have seen very few smiles or expressions of joy the past few days. This makes me wonder if I have been giving any smiles to those that I pass.

When I bought my planner for this year, I also bought motivational stickers to put at the top of each month. The other day, I was writing an appointment down in December and as I glanced at the sticker for the month and realized that I disagree with what it says. The sticker reads, “Busy is the new happy.” I know why I chose that sticker for December. It is a busy month as we prepare for Christmas as well as carry on with regular life but being busy does not mean that we are happy.

While driving the other day, I began noticing the different types of trees, and it reminded me of the people that we all have in our lives.

It’s that time of the year. Do you feel the pressure building, yet? If, so let’s take a deep breath before we dive into the holidays and plan instead of panic. Yes, we can plan our Thanksgiving meal and write out our Christmas list. We can check our calendars to make sure we are not going to miss an event that we want to attend, but that is not the only planning we want to do.

I just recently finished a study of Philippians by Karen Ehman, titled “What Matters Most.” One of the main things that I gained from this study was something she said in one of her videos. She said that we get our gaze and our glance mixed up. We gaze at our problems and glance at Jesus when we should be glancing at our problems and gazing at Jesus.

I was people watching recently when I noticed that a large percentage of people had clothing with advertisements on them. Some were brand names, a favorite sports team or a popular vacation destination. There were a few that no one should wear or read that had something vulgar or distasteful on them. But, it was another category that I began to look for, and that category was shirts that had a word or phrase that displayed passion.

Do you like to watch true crime shows? I can easily get caught up is a real life “who done it” story. It’s fascinating to see how the bad guy’s sins find him out. We want justice, and we want the criminal to get repaid for what he or she did.