A Suggested New Year's Resolution
My suggested resolution for New Year's is to not make one! I confess that I'm pretty skeptical of the whole enterprise of making the resolutions. Admittedly, many of the resolutions are for worthy goals: losing those pesky 15 pounds, exercising more, reading more, praying more, drinking or smoking less. I tend to be leary of resolutions simply because they set us up for failure. I'm far too much of a realist to be too optimistic about human ability. Far too often what happens is that we make a grand resolution, but then only 3 months into the new year our grand plans fall apart. The running peters out, the cake sneaks back into the diet, the commitment to pray a certain amount each day falls short; that is the way it is with us frail humans. Our tendancy toward sin, toward failure of all sorts is far too great. The resolution lasts a couple of months and sometime later we realize that we didn't and couldn't live up to it and the result is being plagued by guilt.
For similar reasons I'm pretty dubious of the practice of getting teenagers to sign pledges about not drinking or having sex on prom night. I'm about as conservative as the next guy about what our teenagers should and shouldn't do on prom night. My problem is what becomes of boy who yields to the temptation and gets drunk, the girl who yields to the temptation and does the wrong things with the wrong guy in the back seat. We set them up for more guilt and shame, and potentially make it less likely that they will actually look to God to find mercy and grace.
Okay, I'll admit it, I have a definite curmudgeonly streak. Let me make a modest suggestion. For our youth teach them your values, what is and isn't acceptable. Know that occasionally even a good kid will fail, and that when that happens we can't do anything that would create so much shame that they wouldn't come to the source of mercy, forgiveness, and healing. With your goals, instead of making resolutions to exercise more, drink less, pray more, simply do those things. As the Nike slogan used to say, Just Do It. Make it a part of your lifestyle without grand resolutions or pledges. If you're trying to shed the pesky 15 and yield to the desert tray, forget about and do better the next day. This sets aside guilt, and a sense of failure, and may enable you to simply live your life better. That's my opinion at least, which is guaranteed, along with 75 cents, to get you a cup of coffee at the convenience store.
For similar reasons I'm pretty dubious of the practice of getting teenagers to sign pledges about not drinking or having sex on prom night. I'm about as conservative as the next guy about what our teenagers should and shouldn't do on prom night. My problem is what becomes of boy who yields to the temptation and gets drunk, the girl who yields to the temptation and does the wrong things with the wrong guy in the back seat. We set them up for more guilt and shame, and potentially make it less likely that they will actually look to God to find mercy and grace.
Okay, I'll admit it, I have a definite curmudgeonly streak. Let me make a modest suggestion. For our youth teach them your values, what is and isn't acceptable. Know that occasionally even a good kid will fail, and that when that happens we can't do anything that would create so much shame that they wouldn't come to the source of mercy, forgiveness, and healing. With your goals, instead of making resolutions to exercise more, drink less, pray more, simply do those things. As the Nike slogan used to say, Just Do It. Make it a part of your lifestyle without grand resolutions or pledges. If you're trying to shed the pesky 15 and yield to the desert tray, forget about and do better the next day. This sets aside guilt, and a sense of failure, and may enable you to simply live your life better. That's my opinion at least, which is guaranteed, along with 75 cents, to get you a cup of coffee at the convenience store.
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