Christmas is over. It went as quickly as it came. All the presents that you had to find a few minutes here and there to wrap were unwrapped in what seemed like seconds. So now what? What do you do with the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day?  How about the three R’s?

The first R is rest. Slow your pace and just spend some down time. Go to bed a little earlier or sleep a little later. Let the hustle and bustle wear off. Shut the electronics off for a while and just be quiet. Give yourself permission to spend the day doing something that you enjoy.

After you have rested, move on to the second R which is recover. The rest will help you physically recover. So, keep the recovery going. Recover your house from the Christmas barrage. Put away all things Christmas. Remove your gifts from their boxes and put them where they can be used. What else needs to be recovered? Do you need to go have lunch with someone that you didn’t have time to see over the holidays to recover a friendship? Do you need to recover your schedule? It seems that sometimes in December things get pushed aside and put on a “later” list in order to prepare for Christmas.

Before we move on to the new year, let’s spend time on the third R, reflection. Reflect on this year. Did .you accomplish your goals? If not, don’t beat yourself up just see if you can figure out why. Think about the blessings of the past year and be grateful. Even if this year, wasn’t all that you hoped it would be or if you experienced a great loss, God was with you. I hope you felt his presences walking with you through the good and bad times. Take this time to thank him for bringing you through this year.

Look toward the new year with hope and get ready to set those goals. Let’s get ready to make 2017 a great year by committing ourselves to being what the Lord wants us to be.

“Remember his marvelous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgements of his mouth.” (1 Chronicles 16:12) (KJV)