New Year's Resolution Bitterness

As we find ourselves at a time of the year where people are focused on New Year's resolutions and how things will be different in 2012, I confess that I find myself resistant to join the tradition of resolutions.

Perhaps it's the fact that I've never successfully kept a New Year's resolution through to the end of January, but I seem to be in good company on that one.  I think it has more to do with the fact that people are resolving to be different based on the time of the year, rather than a true desire to change.  As a procrastinator myself, I recognize the down falls of planning a later resolution instead of just beginning your new resolution.  If you want to make a change, why not begin immediately on December 29th instead of waiting until January 1st?  Then when January 17th comes and the old routines have taken over again and you struggle to remember what you had even resolved to do, you give up, saying how you've already blown it for this year, but maybe next year you'll do better.  If one were truly resolved, failure would not be the end, but merely a starting over.

It's not the resolution I am opposed to, merely the fact that it is a New Year's resolution.  It is a wonderful desire to grow, change, evolve, and improve yourself.  I'm just concerned that there is a toxicity in linking this desire to a time of year that can delay and/or cut short the hard work and process of personal growth.

My encouragement to everyone making resolutions, New Year's or not, is to be full of patience and grace toward yourself.  Growth takes time, as we see in the parable of the sower.  When the seed fell on rocky places, it grew very quickly, but it could not last because it didn't have any roots.  So take the time to grow deep roots.  Be "like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water.  Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought.  Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit." (Jer. 17:8)  We see how patient God constantly is with us ("But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.... Give your strength to your servant" Ps. 86:15-16); why should we treat ourselves any differently?  So go ahead and make a resolution, but don't wait until tomorrow to start it.  And when you fail, don't give up.  The fight isn't over.  Pray to God to give you strength and keep working at it.  You don't have to wait until next year to try again.