Brenda’s Blog – December 26, 2023
“New Year’s Resolutions are just the regrets from last year.”
My Dad’s words made me laugh, but then made me think. Ask your friends about resolutions and the same ones make most lists: lose weight, exercise more, check something off the bucket list, spend more time with family… and for Christians and read the Bible more, pray more regularly, give more, develop greater spiritual depth all make the list.
“What were your resolutions last year?” If remembered or reminded the items are strangely familiar, aren’t they? Why is this? Because we are predictably human who are cyclical in thought and behavior.
Now goals are distinct from resolutions because they usually come supported with strategies, timelines, and achievable results.
Resolutions are a way to offer penance for failures and subsequent regrets. They operate via the rear view mirror hoping the future is brighter; goals, on the other hand, use the full breadth of the windshield to navigate.
Forward progress is the key to maturity. Creating a revolving door of resolutions year after year hinders growth and development. Going around and around making a list, and checking it annually only to put it on a new one is just a parlor trick which fools no one.
Why not sit down at the end of the year and face the regrets? Make a note of the emotional, physical, financial, and spiritual debits with a notation regarding the cause (as far as is possible to ascertain). Then determine what needs to go forward in each category with an accompanying goal. Whatever has no future needs to be jettisoned.
The year begins with goals. It begins with the work ethic, not the wish ethic. It gives 365 days to get out of the revolving door and take strides into the “highways and byways.”
Happy 2024 to you. May you find joy in growing to maturity. May you experience accomplishment in becoming who God created you to be. And may the Lord Jesus Christ be praised day by day.