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It’s that time of the year again. It’s like an examination
of conscience before our first confession. Did we really
get to be that bad over the past 12 months?
New Years resolutions are fun and we’ve all participated
in the practice at one time or another. Maybe some
of us have gained a few extra pounds and we can make a
resolution to lose weight, improve our health or possibly
we slipped back into the smoking habit, really want to
quit and maybe trying to fulfill a promise made in front
of witnesses will help keep us on the right track.
Trying to figure out where the whole idea of a resolution
came from? We can go back almost 4000 years ago
to the Babylonians who were the first, according to my
ancient history, to have a calendar of sorts and to come
up with a beginning and an end to a year.
They had not yet written anything down on papyrus but, when the looked outside and saw the snow melting and new crops growing, they figured this was the beginning of a new period or year. Their new year began sometime in March or April, when the world came alive again and newness surrounded them.
I am certain that during those 2000 years BC, more than one Babylonian said to another Babylonian, “Hope you have a good New Year”. And no doubt, a lot of them resolved to be better Babylonians in the future. About 100 years before the birth of Christ, when the Romans were the powers-that-be, and Julius Ceasar was on the throne, the Romans decided that January would be a good time to begin the year. They named the month January, in honor of their mythical god, Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and the patron of bridges, gateways, highways and even doorways. He had two faces, one looked back at last year and one looked to the coming year and this practice of looking back at your own shortcomings of last year and a promise to do better this year sparked the early beginning of New Years Resolutions.
After approximately 300 years, Christianity became the State Religion of the Roman Empire and New Years Resolutions became promises of fasting and prayers and good works. When the church and the Popes became involved in setting calendars and dates, New Years started bouncing around again to March and even to December.
Then in the 1500s, Pope Gregory decreed that the Julian calendar was null and void and revised the calendar, calling it what else, the Gregorian calendar and it would be the new Calendar of the Land. At that time the celebration of the New Year was returned to January First where it remains today awaiting our promises to be better.
Now that we have established a basis for New Years Resolutions and for the making thereof, let us examine why we should be making them. I do not consider that any of us are near to being perfect. Admit it or not, there has to be a flaw somewhere in our character or in our habits. The fact that the whole process starts with the word “new” gives us the feeling of starting over, beginning again, and we get caught up in the celebration and want to be part of this “new person” feeling.
One of the oldest examples on record in America of New Years Resolutions are those made by one of our
famous American theologians and Puritan, Jonathan Edwards. He decided to pronounce his resolutions in a formal way and jotted down over a several year period, seventy things he thought he should improve on, in his own character, while he was still in college. Then on a January first, around the year 1725, he presented them to the public and called them his New Years Resolutions. He reviewed them every few weeks during the next year to make sure he was adhering to his promises.
While none of us are expected to follow in Jonathan Edwards’ footsteps, the Resolutions that we will be making will range from those that are good for our soul, to those good for our body and to those that are good for our minds. One tip I can offer is to avoid making resolutions that you know in advance you cannot keep. It is better to make one good New Years Resolution that you feel sure you can live up to than to make ten foolish ones that are broken in February or before. If you need a few ideas, here are a few resolutions I think work for me and many others:
Strive to be positive in our attitude towards everyone we meet and in everything we do. I know we can all improve our attendance at our church and in attention to prayer, not just make it a priority when we are desperate for help or need a favor.
Eat less and exercise more is probably a good five word Resolution we could all be making to improve our health and bodies.
How about spend less and save more, another five words to live by in these tough times.
And, as far as our minds go, the normal advice is to read more, and with all the Kindles, Nooks and other electronic devices around today, you can do it anywhere.
I will go you one better though, the best exercise for your mind is to keep it open. An open mind is a peaceful mind.
— Don Langrehr
A Revolution of Resolutions
