So, tomorrow I start again….another diet…probably the fourteenth in the last twelve months. It’s not that I don’t want to lose weight. I do. I seriously do. It’s just that……well, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you. You know how it is. You begin January 1 with all kinds of motivation and goals and by January 15th, that ardor has faded. The holidays are gone, the celebrations are over and life drops back down into the “same old same old” slot. You have at least eight more weeks of cold gray days and cold dark nights and it all just seems to sit better with a tin of almond butter cookies, a quart of Haagen Dazs and a sappy Hallmark movie under a fleece blanket.
It seems the natural thing to do at this time of year, to make those obligatory promises to ourselves that we’re going to really do it this time…..lose weight, dejunk the junk drawer, eat at home more and out less, organize the closets…. but something happens between the lip and the cup. It just never quite comes to pass. At what point does a “resolution” become a “revolution”?
It seems to me when a country finds itself in revolution, it stems from restlessness and dissatisfaction with the status quo. People want a better way of life. Yes. I’m there. I’ve been dissatisfied with many situations for quite sometime. But dissatisfaction in and of itself can do nothing. They say that a charismatic leader is necessary to rally the masses to take action. Great. Where can I find one of those to talk me through x number of pounds, countless undone home projects and songs stacked up waiting to be demoed?
I think sometimes I get lost in the sheer number of tasks that need to be performed for any number of people in my life, and even though I know my health is important, my projects are important and my songs are very important to me, it often goes on the back burner because I’m so overwhelmed with the stuff of just living.
I have come to the conclusion that this year I must take my New Year’s resolutions and make them “revolutions”……get fed up with the way things are, and be determined to be my own cheerleader if necessary to get stuff done. It’s an odd thing that procrastinators are often also perfectionists. Those two things don’t seem to be compatible, but it’s true. We want to do things perfectly and we fear we can’t, so we put off trying to avoid the inevitable failure by imperfection.
It would seem second nature to any Christian who truly believes Philippians 4:13, (“I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.”) to put the burden of our success on Jesus. If we do our part as we should, His strength is sufficient to carry us through.
So, as I strike out again in another attempt to be healthier, stronger, more productive this year I will make that verse my mantra, because after all, what can I do without Him anyway?
May your resolutions become revolutions in 2016.
Janice
