The stress of the holidays can make us all feel like Mrs. Jones - coping with challenge after challenge and feeling like we’re not getting all the support we need.

But the good news this morning is  we made it. You did it!  Christmas is done for another year.  And this Christmas in Central Texas we didn’t need boots or mittens anyway did we.

We talked throughout Advent about home, and now that we’ve welcomed everyone home we need to spend a few minutes looking at the new day that dawns this day after Christmas.

Epiphany is on the way, but we don’t need to wait for another official church holiday to consider what we are called to do as members of St. Paul Church and part of the church universal.

We’re all here because God still has plans for our lives.  No matter your age, God has a plan for your today, and your tomorrow.   That’s the message Paul brought to the Colossians in this scripture.  And that is the same message for us -we are all called to be active in our faith, and to be flooded with the grace of God’s love every day we live and breath in this world.

God is not done with any of us.   We need to offer God the same courtesy.  We can never forget our past, but we need to think more about our future.

We need to receive each new day as a gift from God.  We need to continue to receive God’s Holy Spirit into our hearts.  We need to serve and worship and trust that God is with us all the way home.  Every new day that dawns is also a gift from God.