Thoughts on a New Year

As I have come into the age of New Year’s resolutions I am always seeking to make myself a more productive, healthy, contributing member of society. For many years I felt that New Year’s resolutions were phony, unrealistic, and unattainable goals setting the resolution maker up for ultimate failure. But, as I continue to grow into adulthood I have begun to change my perspective on the idea, and ideal, of New Year’s resolutions. I have begun to look at New Year’s resolutions as an opportunity to critically analyze and look at the past year, my downfalls as well as successes. I look towards how to better succeed in the next year, as I look towards where I am headed in life, occupation, etc...

Last year I looked at many aspects of my life and realized that serious changes needed to be made if I planned to become a productive, successful, and happy adult. So I set out to make them, and used the New Year’s resolution “program” as a way to achieve these goals. I will admit that none of them were achieved within that day, or even month of January, but through patients, practice, and discipline I was able to stick to my guns and reach the majority of those goals which I had set out to fulfill. As I look at this next year I am beginning to think of what attainable and tangible goals I can set out to achieve. The resolution that I am looking towards this year is that of prayer.  To attain this resolution my hope is to look at the form of prayer that I will practice (as I may vary it from time to time), create a schedule to execute this practice, and be gentle with myself as I know 100% success will not always be attainable. As we look at this New Year as a gift and opportunity it is my hope that we receive this gift with open arms, ears, eyes, and hearts as we look to make God’s yearning for happiness, fulfillment, and relationship with us in our lives a reality; and I would suggest that this can be achieved through the practice of a New Year’s resolution.