More Than Resolutions
It’s official– January is over. For select superhuman souls, this means they’re already over a month into a new year of self-improvement and healthy life choices. For the rest of us, it means the resolutions we picked and proclaimed over the holidays are already out the proverbial window. Sure, those plans to hit the gym, sort your socks, and be nicer to your roommate looked perfectly plausible under the rosy, photoshopped filter of Christmas break, but now that it’s down with both the lights and the brass tacks, we realize that actually, we’re perfectly satisfied with our weak ankles, messy sock drawer, and crabby dorm life, thank you. At this point, the time-honored response is to shake off our disappointment along with the eggnog, accept the vicious cycle of vows and avoidances as inevitable, and look forward to the next onslaught of holiday dopamine in the form of Valentine’s chocolate.
If we accept fuzzy feelings and optimistic intentions as the base definition of a resolution, it’s easy to see that mindset reflected everywhere. Look to our contemporary Zeitgeist and you’ll find it in one of two places: stretched out on the yoga mat, dressed to the nines in a sweatband and premium jogging shorts, and gobbling a salad with one hand while managing a small monopoly with the other; or sprawled over a hide-a-bed, sobbing into a pillow and choking on potato chips as it bemoans the dreams burning in the background and complains to all its friends. In other words, when it comes to life improvements, you either succeed or you fail– and if this is the case, then most New Year’s resolutions are doomed to remain, ironically, unresolved.
But maybe that case isn’t closed– or doesn’t have to be. Maybe growth doesn’t come with an expiration date, and maybe the month never mattered to begin with. Maybe failure was even part of the process all along.
After all, that’s part of what it means to live a life redeemed by Christ: the understanding that while it’s our duty to strive to be more like Him, it’s also a gift, and it’s given unconditionally. The truth is that the potential we’ve been given is too big for the local gym, the sock drawer, or our roommate’s inflated ego. All this time we thought we were tangled up in a blinking array of positive impulses and bad habits, we were free– free to try our honest best, and free to fail every time. Because in the end, often in spite of our efforts, God works through all things to the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28), and that standard isn’t just refreshed every year. It remains the same, through every moment of every new and dizzyingly capacious day, ready and waiting for us to fill each one with our own broken brand of blessings and mistakes.
Next time we make a resolution, let’s not wait for the new year. Most importantly, let’s remember that whatever it is, it isn’t a declaration of worth. It isn’t a pretty pipe dream. It isn’t just a good idea.
It’s a promise.