Resolutions

In 2019, I wrote an article for Priceless about resolutions.

For the new year, you make a resolution, right? …
I have a confession to make here. Usually when I make a resolution, I don’t keep it. I don’t do what I said I would do; in fact, I often forget about my resolution, my goal, my “promise.”
And you know what? I think a lot of people do that. On New Year’s Eve and Day, we’re all, “This year I’m going to do this! This year I’m going to be better than last year!” And at first, we might do that. …
But as time goes on, we start slacking off. …
And time goes on, and we lose our zeal and determination. Finally WE GIVE UP. We stop trying to achieve our resolution or goal, and we make excuses. “I don’t have time to read my Bible, and it’s so hard to understand. Besides, I go to church and listen to the sermon; I even read my Sunday school lesson. Isn’t that enough?”
No, that’s not enough! Nothing is ever enough to make up for giving up on a goal. Your resolution might be small…but it’s still important. …
Also, if you get into the habit of giving up when something’s hard or you get tired of it, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO PROFIT. You’re not going to learn or grow or be strong. You’re not going to bless or encourage or inspire someone. And, most importantly, you’re not going to bring glory to God.
And I know it’s hard. As I already said, I usually don’t accomplish my resolutions. But if I did, my life would be better—I would be better.
You can be better too. Just remember that you can’t do it by yourself: you need friends/accountability partners and God. Oh, yes, you need God—you can’t do anything without Him!
So this year as you make a resolution and try to fulfill it, DON’T DO IT BY YOURSELF. Find someone who will “check up on you” and help you towards your goal. And pray; ask God to give you strength, guidance, patience, whatever you need. He will gladly help you.
“Goals: write them down; hang them up; pray them through; and with God’s help, watch them happen.”

Julie Hochstetler, “New Year Resolutions,” Priceless Magazine, January 2019

Listen to yourself, Julie; take some lessons from younger you.

I’ve been feeling very unmotivated to do certain things lately. (Like blogging, as you may or may not have noticed. *hangs head in shame*) I’ve lost my determination; I’ve let myself make excuses; I’ve forgotten these words thirteen year old me wrote.

I don’t want it to be like that.

So things are going to change, as I make some resolutions for 2021!

1. Blog more faithfully. What exactly that means, I’m not sure yet. I used to blog every day; some people blog every week, or at some other appointed time. I hate feeling like I have to blog because I haven’t for the past several days (or, ahem, weeks); I’d rather blog whenever I have something to say. But I know that lets me procrastinate and ignore and not even try to figure out what I have to say. So, yeah, this resolution still needs some defining, but I know I want to blog more often than I have been.
2. Do my devotions every day. I’ve been lax on this too, and it’s way more important/serious than blogging. My pastor recently preached a sermon entitled “Feasting or Famine?” Are we feasting on God’s Word, eating from the nutritional meal He has prepared for us? Or are we just filling ourselves with “husks,” junk food, letting ourselves slowly wither away? Anyway, it was a message for me, something I needed to hear. 🙂
3. Speaking of eating. . . Be more careful/conscious of my eating. I love eating; I love sweet things; I eat when I’m bored, instead of just when I’m hungry. My parents have said before I need to cut back on all the sugar (which, unfortunately, is true; I am way too addicted, as those of you who know me know). And this post and what I commented have been convicting me. So more specifically:
   1. Ease off the sugar. Remind myself I don’t always need dessert, or at least not very much of it. Get used to tea and other drinks that aren’t syrupy-sweet. Etc., etc., you get the point.
   2. Stop grazing. I can eat breakfast and supper, a snack in between if I’m hungry (we usually eat a late breakfast and early-ish supper, so no lunch unless it’s Sunday or some unusual day).
   3. Eat more fruits and veggies. Meat and stuff like that is healthy and important too, but, girl, more salad and corn and carrots and cucumbers and apples and bananas and all that! Oh, and. . . *sigh* As much as I’m not looking forward to this, I should probably stop being so finicky about peppers; if they’re chopped up in your food, child, eat them instead of picking them out. (I’ll let myself pick at least some of them out of fajitas, though; and I won’t make myself eat them raw with dip *gag*.)
4. Other than that. . . Continue to grow spiritually. Become more like Jesus. Love God, others, and myself. Cultivate relationships with family, friends, and strangers. Let my light shine. In short, work on becoming a better person, a better Christian, in all the ways that could apply.

I think all of this boils down to one word: self-discipline. Pursuing “what one thinks is right despite temptations to abandon it.” “Correction or regulation of oneself for the sake of improvement.”

/~/

Thirteen year old me said not to try to fulfill resolutions on your own, but to get an accountability partner. I’ll probably pick a particular person, but all of you can be partners as well! Feel free to check up on me, however you want to do that (email, comment, face-to-face talking, etc.); if you have an idea for a blog post (a verse/passage, a topic, holidays and/or traditions to look into {like I did with Halloween}, etc.), go ahead and share it with me, like one of my friends does every now and then.

P.S. I’m planning to write a post sometime in the near future focused on – eating, I guess? The post I linked to above and my comment on it keep poking at my mind, and I want to delve into the whole “glorifying God in what we eat” and “our bodies are temples” thing. If you have any comments/suggestions/etc. for that, go ahead and send them my way! 😄