As I have been thinking about New Years resolutions. I keep coming back to what I wrote for the Saltshaker last year. I didn’t do very well with my resolution from last year so I read through this and have decided to give it another try. If I see you any time soon ask me if my car is clean?:
By the time you read this it will be about a week into the new year. In the middle of a cold Ontario winter let me ask you this; “how are your New Year’s resolutions holding up?” Odds are even if you didn’t make a formal resolution you probably had great intentions heading into this new year. Odds also are, that you are not in better shape, reading more, watching less T.V., eating better or spending more time with God then you were before the Christmas holidays. If that is the case the bad news is you failed your goal. The good news is you don’t need a new year to start good habits. In fact it is probably easier without it. Most resolutions are made just before midnight before a holiday but are then tried to be lived out in the harsh reality of the morning of a typical workday. It is very easy to say “I will do _____ tomorrow”. It is much harder to do it when tomorrow has become today.
The first key to change is starting today. Don’t put it off until tomorrow. Moses, when writhing of his people’s time wondering in the wilderness wrote:
By the time you read this it will be about a week into the new year. In the middle of a cold Ontario winter let me ask you this; “how are your New Year’s resolutions holding up?” Odds are even if you didn’t make a formal resolution you probably had great intentions heading into this new year. Odds also are, that you are not in better shape, reading more, watching less T.V., eating better or spending more time with God then you were before the Christmas holidays. If that is the case the bad news is you failed your goal. The good news is you don’t need a new year to start good habits. In fact it is probably easier without it. Most resolutions are made just before midnight before a holiday but are then tried to be lived out in the harsh reality of the morning of a typical workday. It is very easy to say “I will do _____ tomorrow”. It is much harder to do it when tomorrow has become today.
The first key to change is starting today. Don’t put it off until tomorrow. Moses, when writhing of his people’s time wondering in the wilderness wrote:
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
…
May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us-- yes, establish the work of our hands.
Psalms 90:12,17 (NIV)
“Teach us to number our days.” Today is what you have. Don’t put off change until tomorrow because it will not happen.
The second key to change is starting small. If your goal is to run a marathon or read the Bible through in a year don’t start there. Change slowly by running today or reading a chapter today. It is important to keep the goal in sight but don’t try the whole goal at once. John Ortberg and Ruth Haley Barton in their book An Ordinary Day With Jesus define training as “to arrange my life around activities I can do that will enable me, over time, to do what I cannot due by direct effort alone.”
Train yourself to be godly.
1 Timothy 4:7 (NIV)
The third key to change is to not be discouraged by failure. Most of my new years resolutions, or lent traditions or workout routines were not abandoned at the first failure. They were abandoned because I took the first failure as total failure. As damaging as it is to look ahead and say “I will change tomorrow”. It is equally damaging to say “I failed yesterday”. Remember, “number your days”. When it comes to change today is the only one that matters.
If it is your desire to pray more, pray now. If it your desire to work out do it today. If it is your desire to eat better, start with your next meal. No time like the present.
Mark Wallace
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