Resolved:
verb.
settle or find a solution
decide firmly on a course of action
noun
firm determination to do something
Now's the time to evaluate your New Years resolutions. Did you make them? Did you keep them? Did you break them?
Did you make them in good faith? Did you know they wouldn't last long?
Good Housekeeping magazine, on the eve of New Years Eve, published an article on sixty five achievable resolutions for the coming year. From starting a gratitude journal, these ran the gamut of more family time, to setting a budget, to read more, to sleep better and on and on.
All good, all positive, all take a certain amount of effort to carry through.
The first recorded New Year's resolutions came from the Babylonians during the New Years festival of Akitu which was in the spring. The Babylonians made promises to their god's to do better.
We know we have nothing to promise God, but to let him be God. Just another pagan practice we take for granted, as I've learned so many of our holidays and even Holy Days have pagan roots. Though coming up I have never considered how far from Christ's work we have come.
Resolutions needn't be New Year's, they can be anytime resolutions. But they need to be realistic and attainable, which much is with God's direction and our meager efforts.
But maybe, just maybe we shouldn't call them resolutions, but maybe call them "gonna trys" , I'm gonna try to lose weight, I'm gonna try to quit smoking, I'm gonna try to budget better.
We should always be striving to be better, but it all amounts to a hill of beans if you do not enlist the cause of God in your efforts.