Dear Friends,
We don't hear so much these days about New Year Resolutions. Like a new diary (
Christmas present from Aunt Florrie) the year itself stretched ahead, pregnant with promise and opportunity, and it seemed like a perfect opportunity to make a fresh start.
There are two sorts of New Year Resolutions. There are the give up smoking, lose half a stone, drink less and end the affair with my secretary sort of resolution. These generally come under the heading of Repen¬tance- turning away from our bad ways, and it's quite a common call in the Bible, from the prophets of the Old Testament, through to John the Baptist and Jesus himself at the beginning of his ministry.
You don't need a New Year to do this. All the time, God is calling us to be the people he always had in mind for us to be, and if we listen to our conscience, we know what there is in our life that needs to be given up, that is getting in the way of our proper, loving relationship with God. If your conscience is saying "Stop that! Now!", best listen.
The other sort of Resolution is actually harder. This is the learn Greek, take up jogging, read the Bible right through including all that small print in Leviticus type of Resolution.
Harder, because you start off with a great burst of enthusiasm, and then something happens so you miss a day, or you actually get to the small print in Leviticus, and you cave in. It's all too difficult. There is a simple answer to these problems. It's called
Starting Again.
The great thing about forgiveness is that it doesn't keep count. So if you've given up smoking, and you have a cigarette, and have to give up smoking all over again, that's ok. Don't say, "Oh well, I've blown it now," and resign yourself to being a smoker. And if you miss a Greek lesson or a trip to the gym, just do it when you can.
Some people have a problem with God forgiving and forgiving and forgiving, as if they think he should draw the line somewhere. Seven times? Seventy times seven times? No. No matter how many times you slip up, God forgives. And allows us to make a fresh start as many times as we need it.
And we need to be forgiving of ourselves, too, and other people, if we recognise that we're normal, and that normal means not being very strong. Make a New Year Resolution to be more tolerant and forgiving of yourself and others.
Ron Wood