In my presentations I tend to contrast two different kinds of people. Like those who see the glass as half empty and those who see it as half full. Or people who are task-oriented and those who are relationship-oriented. Introverts versus extroverts ...

I think we can also (tongue in cheek) divide people in two groups when it comes to the month of January. Which one of the following quotes resonates with you:

If I had my way,

I would remove January from the calendar altogether

and have an extra July instead.

-Roald Dahl

I love beginnings.

If I were in charge of calendars,

every day would be January 1.

-Jerry Spinelli

Most people, in my experience, have strong emotions at the beginning of each year. Are you a January-hater or a January-lover? If you have no specific feelings about this first month of every year, you are a rare, elusive breed!

Now, allow me to introduce you to this month. Perhaps if you get to know it better you might like it more and release yourself from the bonds of disliking and/or fearing the unknown of the new year. And if you already like it, you might love it even more. (If you are neutral, I leave you to it.)

Our modern calendar year is based on the Gregorian calendar of 1582, which corrected the Julian calendar of 45BCE. And Julius Ceasar (of the Julian calendar) based his rendition on the older Roman calendar – which had only ten months.

Good old Julius realised that there was a need for two more winter months. He therefore added January and February. You can blame him for the names and the existence of these months!

I find the name January to be very apt in terms of new beginnings and building on what was good in the previous year. I’ll explain that momentarily. But the connection with winter is not applicable to us here in the southern hemisphere.

North of the equator, January is the coldest month, but for us the first few weeks of a new year are some of our hottest days. Only “some” as the honour of hottest month officially belongs to February.

And yet, the hottest temperature ever officially recorded in South African history was not measured during a February or a January, but on 3 November 1918. On that day it was 50.0°C in the town of Dunbrody, in the Eastern Cape.

But let me not get sidetracked by the weather. Back to January ... The name comes from the Roman god Janus who, according to the myth, ruled over beginnings and endings. He was the symbol of duality and depicted as having two faces.

However, his being two-faced does not have the negative, untrustworthy meaning as we nowadays interpret this description of someone. Janus represented the reconciliation, the harmonising of two points of view or two different ideas.

Janus was able to look both to the past and the future. He was revered for being the guardian of thresholds and the symbol of change. He was the master of transitions and transformation. And that is why I am a huge fan of all January months!

I resonate with these words by Meister Eckhart:

“And suddenly, you know:

It’s time to start something new

and trust the magic of beginnings.”

Our first month of the new year has nothing mythical in it. It rests solidly in the hand of almighty God, the Creator of all that is. The new beginning is indeed magic, but also wondrous as we can start every single day of the whole year in the Name of Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

My wish for you on the threshold of 2026 is that as you look forward to transformation, may you this year make the resolution to be your full-colour self!