Resolved: I will not be making any New Year’s resolutions this year. When you think about it, it makes sense. Why should a tick in the calendar make any difference in our lives? If it wasn’t a priority yesterday, what makes it one today? Besides, how many resolutions really get, well, resolved? Not many. After week two, it’s back to our old ways.
And maybe that’s okay.
Oh, I’m not advocating living with unhealthy habits or a lifestyle that doesn’t fit. I’m just saying that resolutions, however noble, are just a start. They are good intentions, and intentions only take you so far. What really changes us, ultimately, is a journey, once that’s guided by a Divine Force. Only God can change us, and only in Her time. Maybe deciding to change your life on an arbitrary date will get you moving in the right direction. Or maybe you’re not ready yet.
Either way, there’s no sense in feeling like a failure when your “best laid plans gang aft agley,” as the poet Burns would say. (It means “go astray.”) If it’s a journey you’re meant to take, you can take it anytime. July 1st is every bit as good a day to start as January 1st is. Instead of putting energy into feeling bad about failed resolutions, put it into something new: Being open to change itself.
Why not start fresh? Say, with conviction, “God, do what You will with me, this year and always.” By being attuned to God’s will and ready to follow it wherever it leads, you put yourself in better stead than forcing change on yourself, then feeling bad when it doesn’t work out. Trust that the right path will be opened to You. And then, be ready to take it, on whatever day of the calendar year it happens to be.
A new me in the New Year? If that’s what God wants, I’m in. But maybe that’s not the plan. Whatever it is, however, I’m ready.
– Lori Strawn, Prayables
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