God's Resolutions
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV Cycle C
Last year, I decided to get in better shape. I hooked up with a fitness trainer, and he developed a program to help me tone the upper and lower body.
In the days after Christmas and the first weeks of January, I often had to wait to get on the weight-training equipment. I tried visiting the gym at different times of day, but it was generally crowded.
After the Super Bowl, however, the population at the rec center thinned out. No trouble getting time on the equipment. The reason was obvious: People's initial enthusiasm for fitness following the Thanksgiving to Christmas orgy had waned. Life had returned to normal, and there wasn't likely to be another spike in fitness activity until -- perhaps -- Lent.
I stayed on with my trainer, but he had to quit in March because of some family difficulties. I kept at it another three weeks, and then I quit, too.
We seldom keep resolutions once we make them, but it does feel good to make them. It feels like we're taking control of our lives and bodies. We're taking action; we've got a plan. Feels good.
Generally, we vow to exercise more, lose weight, stop smoking, cut down on alcohol, eat a healthier diet, and make new friends. One study discovered that after two months, about 63 percent of resolution-makers were still keeping their number one resolution. I fell into that group. Three months later it was over for me.
The experts say that the keys to being successful with resolutions are to be committed, to have some coping strategies at the ready, and to keep track of progress.
You're doomed to failure, they say, if your resolutions are planned in a New Year's Eve drunken stupor, if they're made hastily at the last minute, and if they're framed in absolutes: "I'll never eat a double-cheese, bacon-mushroom burger again!"
The research also revealed that success was more likely to follow resolutions to start something, than to stop something.
One set of resolutions may not be enough. You have your personal resolutions, but then you need another set of resolutions in your persona as a parent -- that's a whole 'nother list. Then you have your list of spousal resolutions. How long is that list! Perhaps you lay out a program of changed behavior as an employee, or boss, or teacher, or student, or stepparent. You also think prayerfully about your spiritual life because you want to be a better Christian ("I'm going to read my Bible more and I'm going to pray more," etc.).
Frankly, it's all too much for me.
But it's not too much for God. Look at this text. Notice all the "I will's" of this text. Here God makes a few promises -- resolutions -- if you will, and if there is anyone who can keep resolutions, it's God.
In the days after Christmas and the first weeks of January, I often had to wait to get on the weight-training equipment. I tried visiting the gym at different times of day, but it was generally crowded.
After the Super Bowl, however, the population at the rec center thinned out. No trouble getting time on the equipment. The reason was obvious: People's initial enthusiasm for fitness following the Thanksgiving to Christmas orgy had waned. Life had returned to normal, and there wasn't likely to be another spike in fitness activity until -- perhaps -- Lent.
I stayed on with my trainer, but he had to quit in March because of some family difficulties. I kept at it another three weeks, and then I quit, too.
We seldom keep resolutions once we make them, but it does feel good to make them. It feels like we're taking control of our lives and bodies. We're taking action; we've got a plan. Feels good.
Generally, we vow to exercise more, lose weight, stop smoking, cut down on alcohol, eat a healthier diet, and make new friends. One study discovered that after two months, about 63 percent of resolution-makers were still keeping their number one resolution. I fell into that group. Three months later it was over for me.
The experts say that the keys to being successful with resolutions are to be committed, to have some coping strategies at the ready, and to keep track of progress.
You're doomed to failure, they say, if your resolutions are planned in a New Year's Eve drunken stupor, if they're made hastily at the last minute, and if they're framed in absolutes: "I'll never eat a double-cheese, bacon-mushroom burger again!"
The research also revealed that success was more likely to follow resolutions to start something, than to stop something.
One set of resolutions may not be enough. You have your personal resolutions, but then you need another set of resolutions in your persona as a parent -- that's a whole 'nother list. Then you have your list of spousal resolutions. How long is that list! Perhaps you lay out a program of changed behavior as an employee, or boss, or teacher, or student, or stepparent. You also think prayerfully about your spiritual life because you want to be a better Christian ("I'm going to read my Bible more and I'm going to pray more," etc.).
Frankly, it's all too much for me.
But it's not too much for God. Look at this text. Notice all the "I will's" of this text. Here God makes a few promises -- resolutions -- if you will, and if there is anyone who can keep resolutions, it's God.
