New Day resolutions
The beginning of a New Year gives us a good opportunity to reflect on the past year and to make plans and adjustments for the coming year. A New Year resolution has been defined as “a commitment that an individual makes to a personal goal, project, or the reforming of a habit”. The success rate of New Year resolutions has been very limited, some of the resolution only last just a few days while other last only a few weeks, we are told less than 10% of the resolution goals are achieved.
Having said that I still believe it is important that we get an opportunity to take stock of our lives and to see what changes or improvements we can make. The challenge with New Year resolutions is that they come once every 365 days. This means that having failed to keep up with the New Year resolutions in the first few days of January one has to wait for 12 months to make new resolutions. I would therefore like to suggest that what we need is New Day resolutions. As they say that “the journey of the thousand miles begins with a single step”, they journey to our ultimate goal beginnings with one day. The step that I take today sets a basis for my next step, how I live today determines how my life will be tomorrow. Therefore New Year resolutions can only be successful if they are supported by faithful New Day resolutions.
The Bible makes much reference to the idea of a day, “a day of salvation”, 2 Cor 6:2 “a day of judgment” 2 Pet 3:7 , “a day called today” Heb 4:7. Even though a year might be important I believe a day is even more important. Today we are making history, today we are creating a legacy, today we are writing a part of our own obituary. Therefore:· Today you can resolve to surrender your life to Jesus, thereby creating an eternal legacy and heritage for yourself.· Today you can resolve to break your illicit relationship, thereby saving and preserving your family from the cancer of infidelity. · Today you can resolve to be kind and gentle to your children, thereby building confidence in them that will sustain them into adulthood.· Today you can resolve to say, with a smile and loving eyes, “I love you” to your spouse, thereby giving him/her a gift that will sustain him/her throughout the day.· Today you can resolve to forgive your brother, sister, mother, father or friend who has hurt you so bad, thereby freeing yourself and them from the bondage of un-forgiveness.· Today you can resolve to stop reckless spending, stop gossiping, stop unfaithfulness, thereby saving your soul from danger.· Today you can resolve to do some good deed, smile to a stranger, help some needy fellow, thereby making the world a better place. · Today you can resolve to be happy with who you are and what you have, thereby feeling your heart with contentment. · Today you can resolve to be diligent, thorough and reliable in your professional conduct, thereby making a positive impact in your organisation and society in general. The Song writer puts it well “One day at a time sweet Jesus that’s all I’m asking from you. Just give me the strength to do everyday what I have to do…” www.livingpower.org.za