With a brand-new year, we are always confronted with New Year’s Resolutions, which are usually met by different reactions. We might welcome such an opportunity to start over, or to begin again. We might embrace the chance to make goals or adjust priorities, and there are worthy goals we can make: cook a new recipe each week, pay down our credit card debt, read more books, or declutter our garage.
The other reaction, which is just as common, is a slight mistrust of New Year’s Resolutions. Over the years the varnish has rubbed off. We have made the same resolutions more than once, and it has always turned out the same. We begin with great passion, and we end with great disappointment!
We cannot completely discount the benefit of making resolutions, but we can be honest that true change happens slowly and over time. We are prone to create goals for the future, whether it is the beginning of a new year or not.
We can approach this year with the chance to examine our lives and to ponder our opportunities. We can listen for our calling as people of faith. We can consider the ways we can care for each other.
We do not have to call these resolutions. We can simply recognize the chance we have to “share the journey.” We could consider our opportunities to support each other through volunteering for Extension Session, contributing our financial gifts, or joining a Sunday School class.
We could also consider less formal opportunities. We could learn the names of people in the church. We could gather for meals together, pray for those in need, or offer encouragement in other ways. There are countless, little opportunities to walk alongside one another!
We might have mixed feelings about New Year’s Resolutions, but we are all thankful for the ways in which the congregation cares for one another and supports each other!
-Tripp