(It’s Your Life! Work It)
Yikes, the beginning of a brand new year already: where has the time gone?! 2020 here we come – ready or not! For those of us who make yearly New Year’s resolutions, this is a time we love to hate. Do we make resolutions we don’t intend to keep or do we make new resolutions we really, really want to keep and maybe, just possibly, perhaps — keep them this time? Or – there is a third option: do we simply go quietly into the new year and resolve to just remain the same.
Decisions, decisions!
Like so many others, I usually resolve to eat better, exercise more often and watch less TV—which are pretty standard things I suppose. But this year, I wondered just who in the world started this whole “New Year’s resolution” thing in the first place. Here’s what my search turned up.
About 4,000 years ago the ancient Babylonians celebrated the New Year with promises, resolving that they would return any borrowed items and pay their debts. Not a bad way to start off the New Year. Many of us could probably learn a thing or two from that ancient custom! The tradition of making resolutions continues to this day the world over. So, how is that working out for most of us?
In one study using 3,000 participants, researchers found that 88% of people who make new year’s resolutions fail, and 52% of the study’s participants were absolutely confident they would be 100% successful. That is not great news for those of us who make these resolutions each year, but truthfully, I’m not surprised, are you? I totally identify with one online person who said, “I see no need to make more New Year’s resolutions when the ones already on the books aren’t being enforced.” Too funny!
With resolution choices such as better jobs, less nail biting, healthy eating, losing weight etc, is it really any wonder we are having a hard time changing our bad habits? These are formidable choices to tackle, to say the least. We could be like one gal who made this smart comment: “This New Year’s I resolve to lead a better life. Now all I have to do is find someone who will trade lives with me.” Sounds like a plan!
There are some newer resolutions though, that show the times they are a changin’! One, which thankfully I don’t need to make is, “Spend less than $1,825 on coffee at Starbucks this year!” (I think it’s a millennial thing.) The other – “I resolve to stop buttering my doughnuts” is definitely an over 60’s thing.
But here’s what I would suggest over everything else. Since God has designed each of us with a body, a soul, and spirit, why not resolve to work on each of those three life areas for the next 12 months? That would no doubt include just about every good thing that should be on our list for 2020!!
It’s an opportunity to take better care of our ”earth suit,” an opportunity to be kinder to people from our soul man and, of course, an opportunity to grow our spirit and develop a closer relationship with Jesus Christ! Now that’s a great New Year’s resolution!
As Gilbert Chesterton wrote, “The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul, and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year’s resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.”
Pastors Bob and Susan Beckett pastor The Dwelling Place City Church at 27100 Girard Street in Hemet. For more information, visit them at www,dpcitychurch.com
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