By Lisa 
Every single year around this time I type up some resolutions and put them on my refrigerator door where I can see them every day. I read over them from time to time throughout the year, sometimes recommitting to some action towards my goals, and more often just putting off any action for another day. Before I put up the next years’ resolutions, I take last years’ list off the refrigerator (if it hasn’t fallen off and now under the refrigerator) and mentally check off what I have accomplished and what I have not.
I have the usual “lose ten pounds, eat healthier” resolutions along with career goals/money and tasks that involve cleaning, organizing or repairing my house. I usually average about a third accomplished. Maybe I would have gotten those done anyway but I think it helps, at least for the few I do accomplish, to keep me pointed towards what I want my year to look like. Good, right?
I never saved those pages of resolutions from year to year, but I imagine with a few exceptions, I could have saved myself some time and just changed the year. So why make resolutions? What is the purpose?
January 1 is just another day, like every other day in the 365 we have allotted as being a day in a year. Why do we insist on making a list of resolutions the first of each year, repeating most of them every year?
Maybe part of it that Christmas, with all its excesses both good and bad, reminds us about starting over with a clean slate. Isn’t that what the birth of Jesus is about? A fresh start, forgetting the past mistakes, getting another shot at being a better person and having a better life?
Maybe it’s also because so many good people seem to pass away at Christmas–surely we notice it more at a time when old friends and family are on our minds, but it seems like there are a whole lot of funerals to attend in December and January. It makes you want to do something, anything, to prolong your time on the planet and have some sort of positive legacy when you do die.
It is good to shoot for something like weight loss, career advancement, a more organized house, etc. But…I think we are missing some of the Christmas message that should be the biggest part of this “trying to be better”. Jesus didn’t say “Good luck Buddy, try to do better.” He said He Himself, through the Holy Spirit, would help us. It’s not about willpower or reading a list of resolutions every day, although those things are helpful. It is about relying on a promise made that was fulfilled on Christmas Day over 2,000 years ago.
I recently saw a meme that describes my overall resolution this year. Not a list of action steps and tasks to be completed but a way to honor those who have passed on, and move forward myself towards being a better person.
“Become the best things you remember about those who are gone.”
I love that.
Somehow I think the rest will fall into place.