Exiting the Holiday Season

Some of us returned to regular life yesterday.  Some of us have yet to have a holiday at all--as a child of a church organist and the granddaughter of a Lutheran minister, I'm aware that the month of December is not a restful one for many workers.  Those of you with people in the medical industry and the police/EMS/fire industries can relate.

Some of us return to regular life today.  Let us now offer up a quick prayer for all the governments that re-open today--and the federal agencies that remain closed because of the shutdown.  I cannot imagine being a brand new U.S. senator or representative arriving to Congress today--so much that needs to be done and so little will to do it.  I want to believe that people run for office because they have a vision of improving the world, not because they want to stonewall any movement at all.

Some of us are still on vacation until Monday.  I'm thinking of all the teachers that I know who don't report to work until Monday.  I'm also thinking of all the parents I know who have been juggling more responsibilities with the school system closed for several weeks.

I had several days off throughout the holiday season, and yesterday was our first day back at full capacity.  I found it somewhat exhausting to go from slow to supercharged in one day. 

Overlaying all of this is my trying to hold onto the liturgical season.  We're still in the season of Christmas, after all.  The wise men are on their way.  Epiphanies will come--will we be alert to them?

Creator God, be with us on this day when so many of us leave our holidays behind and return to our regular lives. Give us extra measures of patience. Give us creative solutions that we might never have seen without our time away. Be with those looking for work. Be with those who are frustrated with the work we have. Be with those who have a few more days of holidays.  And help us all to realize that the important work may not be in our workplaces at all.