By Doug Creamer
Preparing for the New Year
The packages have been unwrapped. The ribbons and bows are now toys for the cat and dog. We’ve eaten the food that we so anxiously anticipated. The kids are off playing with their new toys. We are off to the stores once again with our returns to exchange. We are shopping online with our new gift cards.
This is the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Some can slow down while others have to make trips to grandma’s or maybe the in-laws’. So, the Christmas celebration may continue, but hopefully with a little less stress. There is less rushing around and maybe more time to enjoy…all of it; the lights, family, friends, music, food, the gifts we anticipated, and the down time away from it all.
Unless you are in retail, this is a slow week. We can take a breath and enjoy the things we so eagerly anticipated. Leftovers taste great with a whole lot less work. The tasty pies, cakes, and cookies are there for the enjoyment. We worked hard to get here, now let’s soak it in. Don’t rush, just amble along…
Allow your mind to reflect on the year that is quickly coming to an end. There have been some good moments and some hard ones. There have been joys and sorrows. There have been victories and moments of defeat. Allow the joys of the good moments to flood your soul. Savor them. Revel in those special memories.
For the other moments, let’s imagine three buckets. The first, we’ll call loss. These are the memories of lost loved ones, jobs, relationships, etc. These memories come with pain and must be treated delicately. You must cherish the good, especially the people in your life. Hold those memories dear to your heart and allow grief to run its course. Give yourself permission and time to walk through the losses, but do not allow them to control you or keep you from moving forward…one step at a time, one day at a time.
The second bucket we will call regrets. These are disappointments and we all have them. We might have disappointments over things that did or did not happen. These cause our hearts to be heavy. The deep longing over what you missed or the pain over what happened that you wish hadn’t. This bucket is extremely heavy and a burden that God does not want you to carry into the New Year. We must seek forgiveness from God and then we must agree with Him that we are forgiven, drop the bucket, and move forward into the future.
The third bucket is our sins and failures. We all sin, from the nicest person to the vilest person you know…we are all sinners. We fail to meet God’s standard of holiness. We can try to always make the right choice and do the right thing, but we are going to fail and fall short of perfection. We should strive to keep our sin bucket empty by repenting and turning from those sins that so easily entangle us. God provided a way and He wants us to ask for and receive forgiveness for our sins. Then we can walk into this New Year that is set before us with clean hands and a pure heart.
We are cleansed from sin, released from regrets, and have savored the special memories. Now we are ready to enter a new year and a new adventure with God. We know the year will come with challenges and opportunities. We know there will good moments to savor and hard ones to persevere. We can be assured that God will walk with us through the new year. We know it will require faith in our God, who always comes to our aid. We must stir up hope because we know He has made good plans for our lives. Why do we know that? He loves us beyond words and our understanding.
I want to encourage you to enter the new year without carrying the three buckets, but rather with faith, hope, and love. God sees you and knows you intimately. He is working in your life to mold you into the image of Jesus so you can be a light and hope to those in your life. He has great things planned for you. There will be challenges, but He has made you an overcomer. You are so greatly loved by God AND He likes you too! This is going to be a great year for you and me as we walk in faith, hope, and His unrelenting love. Happy 2026!
Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com
