Do you still make new year’s resolutions? Or has the last couple years beaten it out of us?
We resolve to lose weight. To finally use that gym membership, we’ve had for months. To drink less. To make better food choices. To have regular family meals. To buckle down and learn Spanish. To switch jobs. To be more patient. To read more. To watch less television. To spend less time on social media, (not yet finish reading this first. 😊). To give more to charity. To run ten miles a week. To go to church. To volunteer. To read through the bible. To not be late for work. To not complain so much. To learn how to play that guitar collecting dust in the storage unit. To be kinder. To be a better spouse. To be a better parent. To be a better friend. To be better.
Whatever yours may be, we do like to make promises to ourselves. But we rarely make it to February before we are reminded, once again, how weak, and fragile we are. It is not just you; it is a species wide affliction. I am not trying to discourage you. You should definitely work to accomplish whatever is on your list, and I am sure whatever is on your list is good. No one ever set a goal on January 1st to be a worse person by the end of the year. So, keep reaching; when we stop growing, we start dying.
But it has forced me to ponder this glorious human compulsion for self-improvement, for reinvention. What is that? I am certain my cat has never looked in a mirror and thought “I must get more exercise this year”. But we are always jumping on and off different paths at different speeds in a faltering attempt to arrive at a better version of ourselves. Where does this desire come from? We do not know what the best version of ourselves would even be, but still, we reach for it. The new year confronts us with a truth we try to push away the rest of the year; the truth we rarely say out loud. “I am not what I should be; I am not what I’m supposed to be; I am not what I was meant to be.”
God also makes resolutions; theologians call them covenants; you can call them promises. He has promised us unspeakable glory. To live and learn and grow forever; to shine like the stars. You were made to shine. That is the reason for this incessant desire for improvement, for change. It is embedded in our code; It is written on our hearts. Your desire to shine is not wrong, it is not mere vainglory. It reflects your hope to shine like the sun, to vibrate with the glory of creation. To master talents and crafts that you have only dreamed of. To sing like thunder and create startling beauty. To run and not be weary, to walk and not faint.
These results are ultimately based on his resolve, not ours. My resolve is weak and fleeting, his is omnipotent and unchanging. So, by all means make every effort to keep those resolutions this year. Keep reaching and stretching and learning and reinventing you, never stop growing. But, as we take our first steps into 2023, remember the closer you walk with the One who is the source of all that shines, the brighter you will shine. regardless of how dark the year might be. Now put down that donut and go for a walk.
Happy New Year
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
– CS Lewis