res·o·lute
/ˈrezəˌl(y)o͞ot/
adjective
admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering: "she was resolute and unswerving "
New Year’s resolutions, at least for me, are often admirably purposeful but not unwavering. It’s easy to enter each year with hopeful optimism and end up wallowing in despair by Lent. This has been exacerbated by a global pandemic that is determined not to go away, but is rather becoming the new normal. As with climate change, we are slowly---all too slowly---coming to grips with the fact that the Mother Earth we depend upon cannot be taken for granted.
While some would interpret such events as the judgments of God, I submit that they are merely the consequences of humans. God does not desire (or need) to bring the curses of Nature upon us...we are doing just fine in that arena. Instead, our Creator is resolute in continuing to bestow grace upon grace to a “stiff-necked” people, some who acknowledge Him only by the shaking of fists, while others who cry or claim His Name continue behaviors that contribute to the problem and not the solution.
The New Year brings the weariness of the old man of 2021 to the hope of newborn 2022. In actuality, it is a “new year” only according to the modern-Roman calendar, not to God. But any opportunity to participate in a reckoning, and hopefully therefor a resolution of some kind, must be embraced.
The modern classic song “Grown Up Christmas List” by Linda Thompson & David Foster (1990) has been covered by a number of recording artists since. The powerful prayerful lyrics that convey our universal hearts’ wishes go as follows: No more lives torn apart That wars would never start And time would heal all hearts Every man would have a friend That right would always win And love would never end...
Paring that prayer down to a personal resolution, I admonish each of us to pick a line and make a determined, unwavering commitment for 2022. What do you say?
Comments