It's January, the beginning of a new month and a new year, and spread before us is a clean slate upon which we can write whatever we choose. Traditionally, the onset of a new year prompts many folks to make resolutions, vows to improve their lives in one way or another. Resolutions to eat healthier, to save more money, to improve our housekeeping or our reading and study routine are all well and good. Unfortunately, while it's easy to make lists of resolutions, few are successful at keeping them. And, sadly, once the first resolutions are broken, the whole intent to do better seems to fall by the wayside.
Partly because of the difficulty of keeping resolutions, columnist Charles Jaffe, writing in the Tulsa World, suggested an alternate. Several years back he decided to set goals, not to make resolutions. In the last days of December he writes a list of his goals for the coming year. Then he slips that list into an envelope and mails it to himself before New Year's Eve. When it arrives it sits on his dresser for the next 12 months until he opens it to see how well he's done at reaching his targets.
"Making the list forces me to think about the future," Jaffe says, "and helps me focus on what I want to accomplish. I think seriously about how to make things better in the next year. To my mind -- and to the many friends who have tried it -- the system works better than resolutions because being sidetracked is temporary. Nothing is 'broken.' A good year is one in which I hit the mark on half of my targets and get close to the bullseye on most of what's left."
There's nothing wrong with taking time for self-reflection, for considering what changes we need to make our lives better. Putting up a new calendar, signaling the onset of a new year, comes with a sense of optimism and a feeling that those changes are possible. But permanent change in our lives comes only after we re-evaluate our priorities and alter our actions to chart a new course. We need to develop some new behaviors and habits.
The Bible offers us many incentives for making those positive changes. Paul, in writing to the Christians at Ephesus, said, "You should continue to be made new in your dominant mental attitude, and should put on the new personality that was created according to God's will in true righteousness and loyalty" (Ephesians 4:23,24). The prophet Isaiah instructed God's people, "Sing to Jehovah a new song, His praise from the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 42:9a). Jesus himself, in his revelation to John, promised, "Look! I am making all things new" (Rev. 21:5a). Throughout its pages, the Bible shows that God loves new things.
It's clear that our Creator wants the best for us. Even more important, He gives us the strength and the support we need to make it happen. Robb Ryerse, author of the Faith Matters column, pointed this out about a year ago. "It seems to me that God has wired into our lives certain opportunities to reflect, consider and course-correct," he wrote. "God loves to do new things in our lives, to make us new, to grow us and change us. The New Year doesn't just give us the opportunity to make goals, but also to identify the tactics needed to grow and change in the ways God wants us to."
Ryerse suggested that we might need to evaluate our calendars and our checkbooks. We might need to spend more time with the people who inspire us and less time with the people who drag us down. We might need to entirely change our mindset and our priorities. And he concluded that all of our best intentions are worthless unless we figure out how changes in our lives can be sustained. Without a clear plan, our goals will go unmet.
"Ultimately, I've learned that, if the New Year is going to be a gift from God in my life to bring about needed and wanted changes, I've got to see it as more than just a time for flimsy resolutions. I've got to firmly believe that God is up to something in my life, that God wants to and will do something new in and through me. Starting the new year with that kind of hope and faith makes me excited to begin the new adventure."
Sounds like good reasoning to me. A good foundation for the new year might well be laid by setting goals, not making resolutions.
Susan Holland is a long-time resident of Benton County and a reporter for the Westside Eagle Observer. She can be reached by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 01/11/2017