The old adage is that you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. Since I have never thought of myself as an old dog (even if I am), I am resolved that 2012 is the year, among other things, of my adapting to new technology—or at least, deciding no longer to procrastinate in adapting to technology that has been around for a while. Thus I have just gone to my first smartphone, and am learning the addictive power of that little beastie! And I have decided to attempt to write a regular submission for our church blog. May this be a resolution I keep!
Perhaps the most difficult challenge with new year’s resolutions is in creating “do-able” resolutions. Too often I find that people tend to set their expectations for themselves far too high, and then are surprised how difficult it is to achieve the desired outcome. Rather than resolving to walk around the block three times a week, we resolve to run five miles a day. Rather than resolving to loose five pounds over the next six months, we set off on an enterprise to slim down to the weight we had as twenty year olds, and plan to loose said fifty pounds in two months. Rather than resolving to find a quiet time of ten minutes to spend with God each day, we decide we are going to give three hours a day to the Lord in which we will now undertake practice of all the spiritual disciplines of the faith. I think that often the “all or nothing” mentality can cause us to fail more quickly than anything else.
Part of our human difficulty seems to be with maintaining a sense of balance, growth and laughter! A sense of balance is the realization that whenever we add new resolves, we need also to give room to give up something else. There are a finite number of hours in the day as well as a finite amount of energy and focus within our souls. A sense of growth is the realization that just as Rome wasn’t built in a day nor the Douglas Fir in my neighbor’s yard did not reach its height in a week, similarly, any new endeavor for physical, mental or spiritual fitness is a process that demands patience. And perhaps that is where the sense of humor becomes most important. The more easily we can laugh at, and forgive, our tendencies to imbalance, impatience and the setting of overly ambitious goals, the more likely we might actually succeed in setting, incorporating and achieving something lasting.
So my resolve is to attempt to write a post for our blog once in a while. Who knows, it might even turn out to be somewhat regular!!
Blessings in Christ from your pastor, Kerry.