The Feast is over now, and you probably had a wonderful time at whatever site you attended. Hopefully you took to heart some of the encouragement in our recent UCG Singles lead page articles about being proactive at the Feast to meet other members and singles, whether or not you think they're potential partners at first glance. Hopefully you took time to share the Feast with everyone, to serve, and to consider the Feast in terms of "the three, the twelve and the seventy" as was described about the life of Jesus Christ. If so, you should have had a great Feast-both spiritually and socially.

If we're not careful, we can have a "let down" about now. We're back at work, back in our normal routine, and back in our local church area-some of which have very few other singles in them. What can you do to help yourself not slip into the all too common depression or feelings of "let down"? How can you keep from feeling trapped by the humdrum of routine, every day, week-to-week life?

One of the things that really struck me about this year's Feast film was the point about the "heroes of faith" in Hebrews 11 viewing themselves as pilgrims seeking a homeland that was not part of this physical world. They were actively looking for a heavenly homeland. It's expressed in verses 13-16. This was already on my mind since that was part of the focus of my sermon at the Feast, and I had already planned to start with that passage, so that's probably why it struck me so powerfully.

Two things still hit me powerfully when I look at that passage. Have you taken notice of the second sentence in verse 16? It begins with "therefore" and points out that because of their focus on the future (the Kingdom of God) God was moved to not be ashamed to be called their God. How powerful is that? All of us should be anxious to follow their example to have God feel the same way about us-to be able to say, "This is my son or daughter that I'm happy to have as my child!"

Secondly, notice the active tense in those verses. They "embraced" God's promises of their future. They "declare plainly that they seek a homeland" and therefore would not return to their old land. In other words, the vision they had of the Kingdom motivated them and directly impacted how they lived their lives.

A big part of motivation is having something to look forward to. I know it's a much smaller goal, but how about giving yourself another shorter term goal to keep you going in God's way? How about setting a goal of attending this year's Winter Family Weekend, December 23-27? There will be lots of social opportunities just like at the Feast-and there will even be special events for the Singles in the Middle. Simply get on the Web and go to www.ucg.org/familyweekend for the details. If you want information on the singles in the Middle events, contact John Dean at jdeanpe@yahoo.com. Of course, the WFW isn't on the par of the Feast, but it makes a great short-term goal for social networking AND for spiritual food since the Sabbath will be filled with seminars for all ages, starting on Friday night. It can be a great "boost" to be with hundreds of God's people for a few days during the long months between the Feast of Tabernacles and the spring feasts. I hope to see you there!

--Ken Treybig