New Years resolution- no more New Year's resolutions

Eric Zorn

Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility. Breaking them is part of the cycle.

Oscar Wilde
Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.

Well this is a new year and with it come the same responsibilities and concerns. Do not misjudge me, I am just as excited as you to usher in a new calender.

Last week I was listening in on to others as they were explaining to each other the reasons for their new years resolutions. Each went around the circle reassuring one another that this year will be the year that they actually do something different and that they will finally assert the change the want. When I was younger I was much more pessimistic and I would have laughed in their faces, but now I know not to do such things... out loud at least. I respect the want to celebrate the coming year with a declaration of difference and change from the last, but I do have a hard time believing it. Actually I have come to the understanding that we give these oaths and promises as a pagan would to the cosmos and stars, like it is expected from the very fabric of our surroundings. I do not think we should completely give up on the prospect of change and becoming something better than what we were. However, I want to challenge myself to be constantly looking for paths to crawl closer to the will of God. The word "crawl" was not a typo, this last year I have done more of that than walking or even running to God. I want all of us to change on a daily basis; becoming more like God and giving up on the parts of us that drag us away from the picture God had originally painted us to be. Instead of embracing change and resolutions of old standards one day a year, let us change habits and resolve problems daily and not annually.