My column from this weekend’s parish bulletin:
I have a love-hate relationship with New Year’s resolutions. On the one hand, I love the organized feeling it gives me to examine my life and promise myself and those I love to improve. On the other hand, I hate failing.
I fail a lot. Every year, no matter how small my resolution(s), I still seem to miss the mark.
This year, as I sit with a brand-new calendar in front of me, I can’t help but glance at the school supplies that are halfway through their school year.
In September, breathing crisp fall air, I find myself inspired by unsharpened pencils and the possibilities of blank notebooks.
Those pencils have been sharpened a few times, and a few have lost their erasers. The notebooks have been scribbled in and the covers are crinkled and bent.
The pencils haven’t always been used for the purpose they were purchased, and the notebooks have been filled with doodles as much as with writing. They’ve failed a bit in their resolutions too, haven’t they?
Maybe failing isn’t so bad. Maybe I need that lesson in humility, that prodding that forces me to lay my pride in my Father’s hands.
Maybe, this year, I’ll resolve to try….perhaps I’ll try something God’s been asking of me or try to focus more on His will than on my lost desires. Maybe I’ll try working out (again) or eating better (again). And it’s possible I’ll fail (again).
One thing’s for sure: if I’m letting God lead me, my resolution will start on the right foot.
Coworkers of a friend of mine have a formal procedure they follow – each year they meet together. Each individual commits to a few resolutions (likely not the same as the others). They outline how they plan to achieve their goals, write them down, and meet at least quarterly to share how they’re doing with keeping their resolutions/meeting their goals.
It sounded whacky at first, but my friend another gal from church, and I decided to give it a try. We’re hoping that the system will make us more likely to follow through.
So far, 3 days into the new year, I’m doing fine.
Pray God I’ll be able to say the same at our first “quarterly review”.
NCSue, that’s almost not resolutions the way I think of them. That makes them into a goal-setting and follow-through thing. I guess they’re that anyway, and maybe that’s what I’m getting at with my writing (sometimes I wish I’d have things figured out FIRST, but then I wouldn’t have columns…).
I do like having the accountability; I’d wager that’s where many people — myself included — fall short. That’s also why I’ve posted here in the past with my resolutions; not to brag about what I’ve done but to try to insert some accountability.
I think the group of friends is better though.
Keep up the great work with your resolutions! Let us know how it goes after the “quarterly review.” 🙂