Less than three weeks ago we welcomed in the New Year and folks around the world resolved to do any number of things – quit smoking, lose weight, workout more, reconcile with family, cut off bad influences…
What was on your list?
Here’s just a bit of mine, in no particular order.
- Write back to those who have commented on Single Mom Smiling!
- Lose 20+ pounds.
- Find time to work out.
- Spend time with friends and family.
- I need to sleep more.
- Complain less.
- Balance my bank account.
- Pay bills on time, every time.
- Start a retirement account.
- Donate more.
- Buy less.
- Study math harder.
- Read a book just for fun.
- Maybe go on a date someday. Maybe not 😉 …
My list could be endless, but why bother? I haven’t done a great job keeping any of my resolutions even in these few short weeks. In fact, I never even bothered (until now) to write my resolutions down – a sure sign of doomed resolve.
The truth is, I never put real effort into this year’s resolutions. I never bothered to tell anyone who would hold me accountable. I never really thought about how important the word resolve should be!
And here’s more truth, the resolutions on my list are pretty shallow and self-centered.
I’d like to lose 20 pounds, but that is so I feel good about me. I’d like to organize my finances, but that’s because I don’t like debt. Even donating is less to help another and more so I can get rid of stuff.
With such shallowness accompanying my resolutions, what difference does it make whether I stick to them or not? What difference does a start date make?
But what about those things we can’t do over?
#1 on my list had been to read the Bible or pray the Rosary daily,
but I’ve already broken that resolution so many times that it doesn’t seem right to add it to the list at all anymore. I’ve missed the opportunity to spend special time with our Lord, and it can never be given back.
Sure, I’ve prayed daily, several times each day in fact, but that’s not what I had said I resolved to do, and now it’s too late for those days.
There are some moments, some things that can’t be undone, words that can’t be unsaid, opportunities that come up only once in a lifetime and are too good to let pass by.
Resolve to take advantage of those moments, those things, and recognize them for the treasures they present. Resolve to put your best effort into that which is worthy and which can never be redone. Do not wait to begin your resolve on a new year or even a new day.
Resolve to begin anew on each new moment.
Resolve to not spend one more day not taking full advantage of today.
For me, I wish I had prayed the Rosary or read the Bible from the start of 2015, but I Love that the Lord lets me begin again today, now, here. I don’t need to wait for a new year to pick up where I left off and to try again.
God is so Good!
This is the first day of the rest of your life. For me, I am putting this in writing so that I can be held accountable:
I resolve to read the Bible or say the Rosary daily.
Perhaps not for all of 2015, but for the rest of 2015, and now I am going to go and do just that. The reading I never got to this morning, Colossians 4 if you want to join me and share your thoughts!
Thank the Lord He lets us start each day anew when we ask for His help and Blessing!
If today there is something you should resolve to do that cannot be put off or cannot be undone later, resolve to do it now. New Year’s Resolutions are not the only time resolutions can or should be made. Seize the day!
God Bless…
