New Year's Resolutions

(From the Flora Christian, January 11, 2008 edition)

We all know that we make resolutions at the beginning of each new year that we don’t keep for very long. It’s not that we don’t intend to keep them—it’s just that making changes is HARD, and the easy and safe thing to do is to revert back to the old way of doing things. I read something today that made me laugh: resolutions that we can ALL keep. I’ll share a few of them:
• This year I’m going to diet less and eat more. I think I’ll gain 30 pounds.
• This year I’ll procrastinate more. Starting tomorrow.
• This year I resolve to get further in debt.
• This year I won’t ride in a car driven by Britney Spears.
• This year I’ll focus more on the faults of others to feel better about myself.
The list went on with more than 30 entries like the ones above.

If making changes in our lives was easy, we’d do it all the time and we’d have perfect lives. But since change is hard, we often just give up and return to what is familiar, comfortable, and often destructive. I have identified a few “personality flaws” that I want to work on starting now (I know, I know, you find it hard to believe I have any flaws—but I really do!). I have spent some time in prayer about this, and I really expect God to change me. Let me challenge you to do the same. And, if after a few weeks (or days or hours) you find that you have forgotten your resolutions, you don’t have to wait until next January 1 to start over!

See you Sunday! Rob