Here we are again.
We are standing at the tippy top of a glossy blank calendar year. January unfurls before us like a brand new piece of college ruled notebook paper. Waiting. It feels as daunting as it does exciting.
If November is for focusing on what we are thankful for in our lives, and December is for celebrating the miraculous birth of Christ who breathes light and love and salvation into our lives, then January must be for putting our gratitude and gifts into action. We ask ourselves, what will we do this year with the abundance we have been given?
In my estimation, there is something endearingly admirable, if not eye-rollingly cliché, about the human inclination toward making New Year’s resolutions. Yes, most of us know that we will likely make empty promises to be healthier, kinder, and more efficient versions of ourselves; and yes, most of those promises will take shape and pass as easily as the clouds. But isn’t there something inspiring about the universality of resolutions? That so many people in so many corners of the world readily acknowledge that there is room for growth and improvement? That as soon as the year turns and we are given a clean slate, the earth seems to swell under our feet and urge us toward betterment? To me, even that mass, shared awareness is inspiring in its own right: first, because it means we are not alone in our utterly imperfect state, and second, because it points to our collective souls’ yearning for something more meaningful, perhaps more holy, than before. We can all do a little better, can’t we?
To resolve to do something is to make a firm decision toward action. Moreover, to resolve something is to find a solution. What solutions and actions am I seeking this year? Well, a lot of them have to do with the greatest gifts I have in my life, and those are my relationships with the precious people God has entrusted me to love well. What treasures they are. This year, I want to be more present with my children, more encouraging with my mother and sister, and more steadfast in the friendships that are life-giving. And the whispered truth here is that each of those resolutions must start with me. Self-reflection is the starting point for self-awareness, and the jumping off point for self-improvement. God created us in His image as complex, dynamic, and contemplative beings. Thus, we are not meant to float through life passively, but rather to dig in with both hands and wrestle with the roots of whom God created us to be. And then try a little more earnestly to do those roots justice.
John Calvin once said that “without knowledge of self, there is no knowledge of God.” These wise words have become the tagline for our church’s upcoming “Rooted in Christ: Relationship Seminar” on the evening of Friday, February 1st with Enneagram expert and insightful Christian counselor, Ian Cron. I know that I, for one, can think of no better way to start my renewed path toward self-improvement in 2019 than with taking an honest inventory of my growing edges through this guided self-reflection. Yes, I resolve to honor my treasured relationships this year by rolling up my sleeves and putting in the intentional time for personal work to be my most loving, present, encouraging, steadfast self.
Won’t you join me? After all, we are all in this holy work together.
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