Thoughts on New Year’s Resolutions

Well I’m sorry I haven’t written for a while! I think it’s been a combination of being busy with family and friends and being tired and therefore lacking creativity.

But it did start me thinking when someone asked me if I had made any New Year’s Resolutions. I heard myself saying, “No, I never make any.” And like sometimes happens, startled myself!

I had never really thought about it like that before, and have never consciously decided not to make New Year’s Resolutions, but when asked I realised that I didn’t and started to think about why.

I think resolutions to do better are great things. I also think that New Year is a great time to evaluate yourself and make resolutions. But basically the reason I don’t is quite simple – I make them all year long!!!

I don’t condemn anyone who makes New Year’s resolutions, but I personally think it is something we should be doing all year round as well. We need to constantly remind ourselves of our goals, re-evaluate our use of time, and figure out how to live the best we can live.

I frequently evaluate and make new resolutions because life is always changing, and I am always changing. It is very easy to slip out of the fast track into the easy ramble! Just as a friend recently commented: loads of people turn up at the gym in January, but it’s back to normal attendance by mid-February.

Here’s what I think we need to constantly evaluate during the year:

• What God has called us to do 
• Our goals and priorities
• Our use of time 

 These three things follow on from each other. We need to know what God is wanting us to do with our life, then from that we can figure out goals for the different areas of our life. We can look at which things are most important at this season of our life, and then try to schedule our use of time appropriately to make the best use of it we possibly can.

I got a lovely game called ‘Settlers of Catan’ for Christmas, and have played it a few times over the holidays. It is resource based, so when the dice roll and a number turns up that one of your houses is built on, then you get the resources for that number, whether it’s wool, grain, ore, brick or wood.

It struck me that life is a bit like that, apart from we have different resources, and the key ones we have are probably time, money and ourselves. We need to use them well so that we are good stewards of them for the glory of God.

The times that I evaluate these things are usually when I change my schedule or when I’m trying to work out if I should take on something extra or drop something.

Incidentally, this doesn’t mean that we should always be ticking things off on a to do list. Taking time to have fun with the kids is something that I believe is really important, since loving our children is one of the things we are called to do as parents. Also exercise is important, since it helps us to do all the other things on our list better!

But I do want to evaluate my life from an eternal perspective, what matters for eternity. I know that Jesus could return anytime, or take me to heaven. And when that happens I want as few regrets as possible as to how I have spent my time!

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