New Years Resolution Update? - Rector's Rambling for January 10, 2021

     If we are like most people, we made New Year’s Resolutions.  And if we are like most people we have already had most of them go by the wayside.

It is human nature, I guess, for most of us to have the best of intentions to improve, and yet that human nature is fallen, affected by original sin.  And what frequently starts as the best of intentions with a desire to improve oneself, often ends when some extra effort is required, or an obstacle met.

Last year, for 2020, I made a resolution to exercise regularly, and to lose weight.  Nothing new about that resolution…I have probably made that one almost every year!  In 2020 it stuck however.  The first six months of the year I worked out every day on a stationary bicycle, and then started rowing with a rowing team.  I changed how and what I ate, and the cumulative result is that I am now hovering near my high school graduation weight.  That was certainly a positive in a year full of lots of negatives brought on by the Corona virus!

The good thing about Resolutions, however, is that they don’t only have to start on January 1!  In fact, every morning, every new day, is a chance to resolve to improve in an aspect of your life by removing something negative and adding something positive.  Exercise and diet are frequently cited, and not as often actually done.  Each day, however, is a chance to make new start.  And the best day to schedule a change is TODAY, not tomorrow or the next!  And once started, it has to gain the momentum of regular use and routine to become a good habit.

I also hope that an overarching resolve in all of our lives is for us to become more spiritually healthy as well!  Pray, meditate, read the Bible, attend worship regularly – these are all great things to resolve that we may come to know and love Our Lord better each day.

And each night, before bed, we have the chance to review the day past, decide where amends need to be made, and gratitude expressed in prayer for the blessings of the day.  And then resolve to glorify Him upon waking.