FaithLife

The Problem With New Year Resolutions

Am I the only one who is tired of New Year resolutions?

If you have an issue with it like I do, just wave your hands to the Lord. Oh, I see… that’s very good. I am so not alone *shining my teeth* And then who else has noticed how we all suddenly forget about our capacities and give ourselves ridiculous deadlines and stuff only to give up in February?
Haha, That’s good… apparently, we are a lot so I am talking to the right crowd.

So last year, my birthday was the driest and not-fun birthday I have ever had. I was still serving then so I was in a village. Whether it was the network o, or people just forgot me that year, my birthday was just very uneventful. I had to come down from my high Cinderella mindset and tell myself the truth: IT IS JUST ANOTHER DAY.

But God is super cool, God helped me have a fabulous birthday this year and I think that sort of made up for last year’s uneventful one. More important than my fab birthday this year was the fact that I had learned an unforgettable lesson:

It really is just another day…  Birthday o, wedding anniversary o, independence day o, even Christmas and New year’s day is really just another day. What makes it different is what it means to us and more importantly what we make out of it.

If you decide to spend your time dancing from now until January 1st, 2018… it would still be a new year.. if you decide to be gloomy all the way… It would still be a new year…. which is really just another year only that we haven’t seen it before.
This is why the whole waiting for 'a new year' to correct all the things that are not right with you or implement better ways of living is just somehow. Click To Tweet

Sometime last month, I was thinking about my goals for the year and there was this certain aspect of my life that I was sure I could have done better in especially if I was more intentional. Instead of me to think about how to make things better, in my subconscious… I just thought, “Let me just stall on this area so that next year, it’d be part of my new year’s resolution….”

Then I caught myself…

Inner me: “That’s not right… You shouldn’t wait for a new year to live a better life…”

Me: “But it is going to be a new year, new system… why not just chill until next year? You’d be more structured by then…”

I really don’t know what happened after this dialogue… I think I must have fallen asleep because as we speak, I haven’t sat down to restructured and see how I can be more intentional about that aspect of my life. Let me even stop talking in parables… It’s about healthy eating. I had planned that by this time, I’d be more into fruits and veggies and all those healthy stuff… But I have not been able to leave cakes and vimto alone.

This is the root of it all. Whatever you need to do today, do today…  There is no point postponing. We are to be faithful stewards.. (1 Corinthians 4:2)… Time like our lives and other resources God has placed in our care are to be handled responsibly. If you have an opportunity to do better with what God has given to you today, why stall until new year’s day?

Psalm 90:12 says: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom…”

You should note that while waiting for a new year, time is going… Living with the consciousness that this world isn’t the final bus-stop and that soon you’ll have to leave this place will help you not wait for January 1st to become a better version of you. And it is not our business to be trying to gauge how long we’d live on this earth or worse still be giving God expiry date of the life He created. Our business is ensuring every moment count.
Did someone just shudder at the thought of dying? C’mon… You shouldn’t fear death. It is only a passage into the real thing and that should excite you as a believer. A soldier fighting in another country doesn’t fear the end of the war because he knows he would be going back home.. same with us.

I hope that with these few points of mine, I have been able to convince you that once you see a need to change, change whether it is a new year or not. If you even really think of it, every day is a new year.

Cheers guys!
Have a great year ahead. You decide when it’s a new year for you though and from then on, be happy! 🙂

You’ll also enjoy these articles:

My Pastor said I’d Blow in 2017 

How To Have A Great Year

About author

Articles

Tolulope Oludapo is a young Christian who lends his voice through the media by sharing practical wisdom for everyday living in the most experiential and simplified fashion. This has fetched him the direct followership of over 30,000 users on his blog, lifegiva.com. A blog he founded. He loves to write on varying subjects that affect life, faith, relationship...everyday living.
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