New Year’s Day is the day the world celebrates the coming of the new year. A day we choose as a starting point for changes in our lives. The past year may have been a successful one for you, a disappointing one, or something in between. No matter because it’s time to make a fresh start. Commitments mark the decision to make this fresh start. Commitments we refer to as resolutions.
Most of us make them, so let’s see which ones are the most popular. The results of surveys of New Year’s resolutions are posted on almost every news feed and social media. Out of curiosity, I decided to check out the popular resolution choices for 2024. The ones I looked at were all very similar, and I settled on this graph.
Another part of the New Year’s tradition is the New Year’s dinner, which traditionally includes black-eyed peas, as consuming them is supposed to bring us luck in the new year. New Year’s dinner in the South includes black-eyed peas, collard greens, sweet potatoes (as a starch or a dessert), and a pork product. Sometimes, chicken is substituted for pork, but only by lightweights.
Now that we’ve made our resolution choices and bolstered our chances of success by consuming a lucky meal, we hope for the best. If we consider the survey results of our chosen resolutions, maybe we should go easy on the New Year’s dinner. Last year’s resolution survey results are very similar to this year’s survey results, which means our resolutions from last year didn’t survive the year, and it is now necessary for us to try again.
A question came to mind after I reviewed this year’s resolution graph -where’s God? Did no one consider a better or closer relationship with God a New Year’s resolution? No wonder New Year’s resolutions fail, as shown in the graph below.
Psalm 127:1 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it: Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” Wisdom begins with God, as should our resolutions and efforts; otherwise, our well-intended resolutions are doomed from the start.
If we look at the top results of the survey, we will notice they center around self-improvement with the hope of a happy and extended life. If you truly want a happy and eternal life, examine and correct your relationship with God. We spend much of our lives trying to live longer yet give no thought to eternity. One of the results of the survey is the resolution to meditate regularly. Meditate on what? We would be far better off if we prayed regularly. One look at today’s world should quickly enforce the need for more prayer.
If you genuinely want to improve yourself and your life, you need to do it from inside out, not outside in. If you wish for better health, both physical and mental, and to gain control over your vices, then change must begin on the inside, and this change can only come from a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Without Christ, self-improvement efforts and real change are a non-starter.
Another missing item from the survey is helping others. Have we become so self-centered that consideration for others is no longer a part of our plan? How can we hope to have a prosperous new year on our own? We cannot; we all need friends and family for support, but if we consider others as secondary, we will have a lonely year. You may work, socialize, and spend time on social media with ‘friends,’ but how many of those acquaintances are real friends?
Excessive government welfare, designed to help, has done nothing but hurt. It has created a multi-generational dependence, creating a government plantation. The only way to break this sad cycle is to help those caught up in it by helping them out of it, not by handouts, but by a hand-up. We are resolving ourselves to help those in need. Why do we only think of this at Christmas when assisting others should be daily? It’s not always about money but also about giving your time.
Resolutions made in haste or out of need need a plan. There can be no success without a plan of how to accomplish them. Whatever strategy you put together should begin with God and improving your relationship with him. If not, your 2025 resolution list will likely be the same as your 2024 one. I’m so glad and thankful that God didn’t exclude us from His resolution list. He sent His only begotten son to die for us so that we have the opportunity of a future with Him. I pray your New Year’s resolution begins with a relationship with God. Let’s start this New Year being God-centered and not self-centered.
1 Images credited to Forbes.com / Health
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