Unshackled Moments ~ December 27 ~ To Resolve Or Not To Resolve

To resolve or not to resolve, that is the question. Yep, it's that time of year again. Many are already thinking about what New Year's Resolutions to make. Some planned them days or even weeks back as they chose to continue to indulge or overindulge in things during the holiday season on the promise to self or others that they would fix, correct or stop in the new year. Some, like me, may have quit bothering to make resolutions years ago after seeing the ritual as pointless due to consistent failure.

I think that the reason failure is such a common part of resolutions, regardless of if they come at the beginning of a year, at a birthday, in times of fear or crises (God, if you get me out of this I will never do [blank] again!) or after seeing or hearing something inspirational, is twofold. The first is that resolutions are often wish lists more than realistic goals. Now when I say that resolutions are often unrealistic I am not saying don't shoot for the moon.  If people hadn't stove to do the impossible we wouldn't ride in cars, fly planes or, well, have gone to the moon. We wouldn't have little touch screen computers in our pockets that we can use to research funny videos and call to order pizza and text I love you with that make the wild imaginings of Gene Roddenberry and the late sixties episodes of Star Trek look common place.

It's OK to dream big. For that matter, we strive for perfection, and that's one impossible mark to hit. But we try. It's good to aim high. Shoot for the 100 and maybe you get the A. Shoot for passing and the C becomes hit or miss. But realize the difference between making a wish and setting a goal. The number one new year's resolution is to lose weight. That is the most common for many reasons, not the least of which have to do with unrealistic and unhealthy body image issues and guilt over holiday weight gain. So this year, many will say, I am going to lose weight.

It won't work. I am going to diet and stick to it. Probably not. I am going to exercise regularly. No, no you won't. Not for long anyway. When we make our wishes as resolutions they are often so vague that they are useless. Or we make them without really considering what we need to do or what it will take to make them come to pass. Lose weight? How? Where to begin? If I am not exercising now, what makes me think I will do anything other than hit it hard, maybe too hard, start hurting and quit again? How much weight? Resolutions need to be more than wish lists if they are to have any chance of being useful.

The second reason that resolutions fail is that we try to take control over things we have no control over and exercise power and authority that we don't have. So, I am going to eat healthy and stop eating things that are bad for me? That's when I realize that like many I am addicted to refined sugars or set in my habitual bad eating habits or that I just really, really like food that tastes good. After the weight loss issue, the most common resolutions are the swearing off of addictions. I am going to quit smoking. Or. I am going to quit drinking. Or... When we determine to do something that we do not have the power to to do, set ourselves free from bondage, change the nature of who we are, instantly break a habit years in the making, etc. we set ourselves up for failure.

There's nothing wrong with making New Year's Resolutions, or not making them for that matter. I may actually make some myself next year, and if I do, it will be the first in decades that I have done so. It will also mark the failing of the only resolution I have ever been able to keep, because years ago I resolved not to make resolutions. But there is something to say for what may be behind it. We are to aim for perfection. We are to strive to better ourselves. We are to search our hearts and ask God to search our hearts and lead us deeper into truth and wisdom, to the way that is higher than us. We are to look at our lives and return to God instead of complaining about our situation and circumstances. We are to set asides the attitudes, habits, sins and addictions that get in the way of our relationship with God and our service to Him.

But, if we make resolutions, let us be wise about it. Let it not be I am going to do better financially this year, but rather something like I am going to limit myself to not purchasing more on credit than I can pay at the end of the month, or some similar and practical goal that has a clear plan of action. We can research the best ways to accomplish or attempt to accomplish things that we desire and make plans. I want to lose 30 pounds this year so I resolve to limit my soda intake to x amount in January and reduce it each month until I have eliminated soft drinks. I will also exercise by doing something low impact for a short time in January and increase the time and stain of the exercise as I grow accustomed to each new level of activity. And most of all, if we are going to have any hope, than we need to ask God to guide us in deciding what changes need to be made, and in honest submission we humbly ask Him to remove our shortcomings. Lord, I am now willing that You should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that You now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to You and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do Your bidding. Amen.

We need only make the changes that will bring us closer to Him and help us to be more of service and more like Jesus. But that doesn't mean that we can't make the changes that we want for ourselves, as long as they don't become more important than the will of God for our lives or go against that will, don't interfere with our service to Him and don't cause us to fall into the grip of self, pride or condemnation as we succeed or fail. So we ask Him to guide us in the examining of our lives so that we see from Him what should be changed and worked on and how. This should probably be done far more often than once a year. We continue to take inventory and examine our hearts, minds, patterns and life. And if God shows us something should be changed, we need to remember our surrendered position, stay out of the way and let Him dot he work. He is transforming us from glory to glory. We are not transforming, changing or making ourselves. We don't have the power. I can not, on my strength, stay clean and sober in 2017. But God can keep me clean, and He has the power to bring about any and all changes He wants in your life as well, if He is sought and if you will let Him.

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