Resolutions

I don't know what it is about January that depresses me so. My youngest son has a birthday on the 15th, but other than that, January seems very 'dark' to me. I am not sure what has made me jaded toward the month of January, but I am sure that I wish I could skip straight to March after Christmas (oh, and that all my decorations would magically disappear into their proper storage containers). Normally, I take down my tree and all decorations the day after Christmas (I hate to look at the tree with no presents under it for another week), but since my son started school last year, I have decided it is more important for me to play with him while he is out of school than to spend days un-decorating. Next year, I will be decorating and un-decorating (yes, I know that un-decorating is not really a word) a new house, so maybe January will seem more exciting to me. We'll see.

I mentioned that my son's birthday is January 15th. For those of you who know about his Dash obsession, I thought you might want to know that he is having an Incredibles party. (He wakes up every morning and says "I'm still Dash"). I am ordering red t-shirts with the Incredibles logo on them and masks for us all to wear at the party. The best part is that we are giving him an actual Dash costume. Nothing like making dreams a reality. I predict that costume will be 20 bucks worth of joy for him. I will definitely post pics when the party is over.

I have been thinking about New Year's resolutions. Maybe a resolution or goal would get my mind off the bleakness of January. I have resolved to spend more time in the Word, but other than that the only two other resolutions that I can come up with are to exercise and lose weight. I hate to be cliche since EVERYONE makes a resolution to exercise and lose weight, but I will try ;-). I have to admit that I am skeptical every time I hear someone say that they are making a New Year’s resolution. I suppose it is because I, myself have never actually kept a resolution for more than a couple of weeks (okay,… days). It seems to me that the most common resolutions are ones having to do with our physical health, not our spiritual health (I.e. lose weight, get into shape, and spend more time on “me“). While those are all noble causes, I believe that many times as Christians we miss the mark on what God wants us to change about ourselves.


As women, I think we tend to compare ourselves to the rest of the world. We want to look and dress like the hottest Hollywood actresses, with no regard to the fact that most of them live totally immoral lives on and off the screen. We envy people who don’t even know the Lord, or worse, completely deny his existence. Should it not be the other way around? The Bible says , “We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). Too many times we get consumed by the latest trends, when we should be consumed by God.


This year instead of resolving to beautify our outside appearance, maybe (definitely) we should work on beautifying what is inside. Jeremiah 9:24 says, “But let him who boasts boast of this: that he understands and knows me”. While I think we will never completely understand God on this earth, to better know Him and understand Him is the best resolution for everyone. I think that my main resolution will be to spend more time with the Lord in Bible study and prayer. If I exercise more, then that will just be the icing on the cake (oh, wait I can't have cake......;-).


I pray you all have a Happy (Healthy) New Year !