Doesn’t Christmas seem a long time ago now? the decorations have been tidied away, the lights have been taken down, and the New Year resolutions that we made, when we were filled with positivity, have been broken; life can seem a bit flat.

The challenge to us all is to hold onto the joy and optimism of the nativity, not just through the Christmas season, but throughout the year.

This can be difficult as it is natural to look backwards, not forwards, it is normal to doubt ourselves, rather than to be confident in our abilities, it is only human to let our failures outweigh our successes, and we often set ourselves unrealistic targets. We set ourselves up to fail.

In Isaiah 43: 18-19 we are told to ‘Forget the former things: do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland’.

God reminds us that we should always have hope, even when the road ahead looks empty, and we feel that options are few. God reassures us that we should embrace change, no matter how difficult and uncomfortable that may be. And most of all God appeals for us to have faith, faith in the unseen future, faith in him, and faith in ourselves.

So may you carry the joy and optimism of the nativity with you throughout this coming year in whatever you do.