Shabbos-A Time To Look Back

Shabbos is a time to come closer to Hashem. Shabbos and teshuva have the same root-lashuv-to return. On Shabbos, we can take different steps to come back, to return to Hashem.

You can use the time you have to think about how your week went. Go through each day of the week. Sunday. Did I accomplish? Monday. Tuesday....how did I interact with my friends? my family? my coworkers? my neighbors? my teachers? my students? my parents? my grandparents? Could I use improvement in any area?

Shabbos is a long day. You have a whole afternoon ahead of you. You can read, rest, get together with friends and you can also use some of the time to "get together" with your Creator. Get to know Him better. How? By thinking about how you can come closer to Him and thinking about how you can improve. You have time to review your week...and really think about what you can do to make the coming week a better one.

Go on a walk. Spend some time alone. Spend some time thinking about what you want to do to make the week ahead of you a good one. How you will fill each day with things that will make you feel accomplished when you look back next Shabbos at the week that past.

Think about the good things that happened this week. Did you hear any news that made you feel like you wanted to jump for joy with happiness? Did you get to say, "Mazel tov" for something this week? Thank Hashem for that! Did you go to school/work and get home safely each day? Remember Who it is that made sure that you reached your destination each time you went somewhere. Spend some time thanking Hashem for the good things you have in your life-your family, your friends, your health, two eyes that can see, two ears that can hear, a nose that can smell, a mouth and a tongue that can eat all the delicious foods...there is SO MUCH to be thankful for!

So this Shabbos, take some time to think about the past week and think about how you will make this coming week a good one!

Enjoy your Shabbos and make it special!