Thanksgiving gives us an opportunity to see the good of the past year. Christmas enables us to see a source of joy that transcends our circumstances. New Year’s offers a fresh start. We’ve got a whole year ahead of us!
Two years ago, I made it my goal to sleep outside in a tent two nights out of the entire year. I didn’t do it. Two nights! That’s all I needed to fulfill that goal. Last year, I reviewed that goal, and I thought about how to make it happen. I decided to practice “camping” in my backyard. I would see what things I would need, how I could cook outside, and how to set up and take down the tent. Then, I’d be ready to do it out there. So, I made my goal of sleeping in a tent for two nights again.
This year, I slept in a tent nine nights. I practiced twice at home. I camped at a campground in the mountains by myself for two nights. I stayed at a KOA while travelling. I led a men’s camping trip for our church. I camped with my wife for the fist time on our 20th anniversary trip in Florida. That’s what resolutions can do. They challenge us to move forward and do things that we haven’t done before.
Have you ever experienced something like that in your life? How could you experience more of it? I’ve talked to a lot of people about New Year’s resolutions, and here’s some of the questions I’ve had and the answers I’ve given. These are my ideas on how to approach New Year’s goals or resolutions. I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below.
How do we make this year count? We’ve got to resolve to do something with this year. To make this year count, we’ve just got to resolve to use this year for good.
Why should someone make a resolution? A resolution is basically a goal. It is a commitment to make something happen. As Wayne Gretzky put it, “We miss 100% of the shots we don’t take.” If we aim at something, we may accomplish it and do something greater than we have before.
But why seek to do more? If it’s pleasure we seek, we’ll enjoy more of it if we aim at it. If it’s glorifying God and serving others, we’ll accomplish more if we are trying to accomplish something than if we don’t. Most good things don’t happen by accident but by pursuit and labor. This labor flows out of a vision and a goal of where we want to be.
So, why do people not make resolutions? Here are a few reasons.
1. Because there is resistance. It’s easier to do nothing. The problem is that everything that is really good involves resistance. Until we embrace that reality, we won’t move forward.
2. Because we have failed in the past and gotten discouraged. We remember past resistance. We forget how we overcame it. We need to return to Thanksgiving and remember all the things we have accomplished. Past failure is no guarantee of future failures, and the mere act of trying and working has its own benefits in building character.
3. Because progress is slow. Many things in life cannot be accomplished in a day. Many things require time, but it is amazing what dedicated effort over time can accomplish. Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, “No genius can recite a ballad at first reading so well as mediocrity can at the fifteenth or twentieth reading.” After a long period of dedicated effort, you will find yourself with a treasury of knowledge or skills or experiences or relationships.
4. Because we fear choosing the wrong resolution. It’s good to consider what is best, but any way forward is better than none. I think Emerson had it right here, too: “in our flowing affairs a decision must be made,—the best, if you can; but any is better than none. There are twenty ways of going to a point, and one is the shortest; but set out at once on one” (The Conduct of Life, 983).
Why should we make resolutions specifically on New Year’s? It is somewhat arbitrary, but many things have the meaning that we give to them. New Year’s is one of them. There is logic in it, though. It is the beginning of a new year. Everyone is thinking about it. So, why not? What would be your alternative?
What sort of resolutions should we make? I think resolutions or goals are best that set before us something that we cannot accomplish today but that we can accomplish over time. Here are a few examples.
1. We can work on our relationship with God: to exercise more faith, to find more joy in Him, to read the Bible, to make church a priority, to join a small group, to pray regularly, etc.
2. We can work on our relationship with people: making regular contacts with important people in our lives, getting together regularly with friends, becoming more patient, becoming better listeners, etc.
3. We can work on becoming more effective servants: setting financial goals, getting in shape, learning new skills, reading to get a broader understanding, getting a new job, etc.
4. We can work on enjoying the good and beautiful things God has given us in this world: take a vacation, learn to rest, learn to play a musical instrument, read books, attend plays, learn to cook, etc.
How do we carry this out? Make it as easy as possible to attain your goals. Connect them to a regular activity you already do. Here’s an example of what I mean.
In December 2018, I started playing the guitar. I did practice it fairly regularly but not every day. A musician told me that what I needed to do was to have it out where I could see it. I listened to him, and I put it on a stand by my dresser. Simply not having to get it out from under my bed made a huge difference. I practice it nearly every day because it is there. Eliminating even small obstacles can help.
In addition, he told me to practice just five minutes a day. Don’t say, practice 30 minutes a day. Picking up the guitar is the main thing. Once you pick it up, you will usually find that you practice more than 5 minutes.
What if we don’t accomplish our goals? Then, we don’t. The Christian faith teaches us that our ultimate value and acceptance is not based on what we accomplish but in the fact that God values us. So, we can rest on that. Out of that sense of God’s care for us, we are freed to serve.
What accomplishing goals does do is to give greater meaning and satisfaction to our lives. It glorifies God. It blesses us. It blesses others. It enables us to lean into what God is already doing in our lives. We can serve. We can make progress. We can move forward.
I read an article that said that many millennials viewed 2020 as a wasted year. We don’t need to have any more wasted years, if we will do something with our year that is significant and meaningful. And that is totally up to us! Nothing that happens next year will keep us from doing that. The question is, will we wander aimlessly, or will we move forward toward God’s best for us? That’s what a fresh start can help us do. It can point us in the right direction. That’s the opportunity of New Year’s!
________
[Note: originally published December 31, 2020 and revised thereafter]