I no longer make New Year's resolutions. I made hundreds, but no more. Quite a few were stillborn; hardly any survived the end of January. I have tried to determine why my resolutions failed so consistently. I believe the following are some of the reasons:
1. The power of habit and resistance to change. Obviously, change isn't easy. Habits die hard. It may seem likely, in the flush of enthusiasm for a new idea, that I will get up at five-thirty each morning and jog. It seems infinitely less likely when five-thirty arrives and it is cold and foggy outside and warm and dry in bed. Willpower may push me out on the street a few mornings, but in the long run, willpower just isn't strong enough to overcome years of sleeping past five-thirty. My all-time jogging record is three consecutive weeks in 1976!
2. Too ambitious. I wish I had a dollar for every book I swore to read during a particular year. I used to make reading lists each January, with the Bible at the top, followed by thirty or forty titles! Anyone except a confirmed resolutionist would have realized that the chance of getting through that list was roughly equal to getting out of bed at five-thirty every morning! Now, I'm a much better reader than I am a jogger, so I fared better here. But I never actually completed an entire reading list. A less ambitious program might have ensured success.
3. Too trivial. A determination to put the cap back on the toothpaste hardly qualifies as a resolution. It dilutes the rest of the list and helps pull the whole thing down on itself.
4. Trusting my own strength. Here is the real reason for failing resolutions. The prevalent idea seems to be that anything is possible if a person just grits his teeth, rolls up his sleeves, and gives it all he's got. Failure becomes, then, a lack of commitment, a loss of determination, a lack of effort. A little more push and the thing would have succeeded. I've come to believe that most of what I try to change about myself is impossible as long as I rely on myself.
What is a disillusioned resolutionist to do?
Even for those of us who resolve to make no resolutions, there is something about the beginning of a new year that cries out for taking stock of one's life. Somehow the transition from an old year to a fresh, uncharted one causes us to dream dreams and see visions of what might be, in spite of the fact that it hasn't been. And this is good.
As ministers, we work in the realm of change and miracle. Our efforts are largely directed toward bringing about change, divinely inspired change, in the lives of people. We must never decide that this is unlikely or impossible in our lives or in our churches.
We must do what the apostle Paul did: "One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13, 14, R.S.V.). I suspect Paul must have penned this cry of despair and faith about January 17 or 18, just when his list of resolutions was coming unraveled. (At least that was just about the time my list always began to fall apart.)
What help does the inspired apostle give us in these words? First of all, he counsels us to forget past failures. Was 1983 a terrible year? Did you really mess things up? Put it in the past, where it belongs. Wipe off the clinging smell of failure. Learn from mistakes, and then don't look back. The past can paralyze us if we allow it to dominate the present and cripple the future.
Second, the apostle says he continues to strain forward and press on. Life without the possibility of change may be comfortable, but it is sterile, as well. There must be purpose, goals, plans, dreams, and efforts.
And third, Paul says he goes forward at the call of God in Christ Jesus. Here is the heart of success. God in Christ Jesus determines the goal, gives the initiative to press toward that goal, and wipes the damage of the past away. A few verses later Paul sums up the whole experience: "I can do all things through Christ which strengthened! me" (chap. 4:13).
And that brings me to a fifth reason 1 believe my resolutions were such spectacular failures. Most of them were things I had decided were important. Maybe the Lord wasn't terribly concerned whether I got up and jogged in the dark or not. Perhaps He had other books He wanted me to read besides the ones on my list. I'm not saying we don't allow God to set the agenda if we make resolutions, but we need to be sure to leave Him room to work. And we need to recognize He doesn't work only in early January. If we are willing to live in a continuing relationship with Him the Lord may impress us in March or August as easily as in January--and maybe more effectively.
If making resolutions works for you, fine. I don't want to discourage you from doing so. But I've decided to quit taking on the whole year every January 1. I'm going to concentrate on one day at a time and I'm going to try to keep Philippians 3 and 4 in mind while doing it. --B.R.H.
