The shortest day of the year
has come and gone. I say this thankfully, as I am one
of those whose mood is often affected negatively by the
shortening days. There are years when I’m holding
my breath wondering if I can get through another season
of growing darkness although I’m grateful to say
that it seems less and less of a problem as I age. Nonetheless,
I rejoice that now, even though we’ve just entered
winter, we’ve also seen the beginning of the lengthening
day. So while months of colder and wetter (we hope) weather
is before us, the mornings will come earlier and the sunset
later.
With these newly lengthening
days also comes the celebration of the New Year. That
is no accident. The longer days are like a rebirth each
year and the calendar reflects that. I suspect it is also
a reason why so many of us habitually make New Years resolutions,
especially in a society like ours where self-improvement
books routinely top the best seller’s lists each
year. The idea of such resolve is particularly a North
American phenomenon. After all, this is the New World,
the place of fresh starts, the hope of many who have made
their way here to get a clean beginning.
The problem with many of our
resolutions is that they tend to be highly unrealistic.
We set ourselves up for failure. I often tell people that
one of my fantasies is that I live a perfectly organized
life: papers are always carefully filed; paperwork up
to date; work done in a timely manner with nothing left
to the last minute; Sunday messages are finished by Thursday
noon; all my reports are filed early, and believe me,
as a United Methodist pastor, we have LOTS of reports.
Clearly, there is a theme running through here—the
inundation of my life with paper.
But what would my life look
like if I did keep such resolutions and so perfectly organize
my life? It would mean the loss of joyous spontaneity
and my delight in the unusual happening in the midst of
the usual. I suspect it would also mean that I would have
to disown my beloved parents, who also live their lives
drowning in paperwork. My sister and brother and I all
seem to have the same tendency—as they say, “apples
just don’t fall far from the apple tree.”
So to live out my fantasy in a kept New Years resolution
means leaving behind some very precious things. Perhaps
not the best idea.
So for this year, I’m
offering a different resolution: to learn to enjoy my
messes, to laugh at myself a lot more, to get really excited
when I do manage to finish a report on time or clear off
my desk, no matter how briefly, to be content in knowing
that my best sermons often come after a week of study
that culminates in a epiphany of connection in the wee
hours of Sunday mornings, and to quit being so critical
of myself. That one I can keep!
But there are more important
resolutions that really do speak to areas of our lives
that need attention. I’m especially thinking about
the importance of gathering weekly for worship and study
and fellowship and encouragement at a local church. I’m
also thinking about the importance of ingraining such
habits into our children and grandchildren so they are
brought up early to hear the words of life offered in
a faith community. It’s so easy to get out of the
habit of gathering together on Sunday mornings for such
things. But the development of that habit will pay off
hundreds of times over. Children and parents and grandparents
share a vocabulary of faith and have a way to talk about
eternal things with each other.
My husband and I have five
grown children. I have spent many hours in conversation
with one of them recently as he has turned to me for counsel
over a difficult area of his life. Although it looks primarily
like a relationship problem, it is ultimately a spiritual
issue. The common knowledge that we share concerning our
growth into maturity as Christians has given us a place
to start working on his concerns. We could not have these
in-depth conversations if he had not spent his early years
faithfully being taken to church. It helped to form his
character and gave him a foundation upon which to build
as a young adult. I know that he will work through his
current problem, but I also know that having proper tools
makes it much easier.
Many of those proper tools
can be acquired by regular attendance at church and Sunday
School. So I encourage you to make such a resolution.
We certainly would welcome you at Krum United Methodist
Church, and I’m betting every other church in the
community would make the same offer. Let’s be a
community that raises our children in such a way that
their lives are founded on sound principles of well-integrated
morality in a connective faith community. This is a resolution
that will change your life.
