New Year’s Resolutions (and finding happiness)
It’s time for those pesky New Year’s Resolutions again. As a blogger, I have the (un)fortunate opportunity to be reminded of previous New Year’s resolutions I’ve put out there in black and white for all to see. All it takes is a little scrolling for me to remember that I talked about enlarging our borders in 2018 and pursuing JOY in 2017. And I feel almost a little sorry for my then-self, who clearly had no idea about the dark corners and jagged cliffs those years would hold. Crisis and fear prowled around waiting to devour innocent resolve, and I had no clue what was coming. Did that make me naive, I wonder? Should I have not bothered?
My flesh a little bit says ‘yes’, but my spirit says, ‘NO!’ (Emphatically, in her biggest girl voice.)
Indeed, I still think it is important to make New Year’s Resolutions. Why bother? And what are mine for 2019? Thank you for asking. 🙂
Why Bother Making New Year’s Resolutions?
Well, I believe goal-setting helps us turn the page with purpose. New Year’s resolutions help us to be more strategic about how we face what is before us. A strategy, according to Merriam-Webster, “is a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.” According to Forbes, it is “a framework for making decisions…” It helps us to consider the “why” of our lives as we enter the new year, so we can then chart the course of the “how.” Of course, we all know the challenge of remaining disciplined. But perhaps the gravity and importance of the resolution–its why–may help us. Anything worth becoming is worth working for.
Only those who attempt the absurd can achieve the impossible. (Albert Einstein)
Of course, reasonable resolutions may seem more possible than absurd ones. But the absurd are the places where imagination and creativity reside. Where passion and drive pulse.
Past Resolutions about JOY
Let me recount a little about my resolution to pursue JOY in 2017-18. What I thought I would find was more laughter, more light-heartedness, more jovial times. Instead, though, what I found was more steadfastness in pain, more patience in crisis, and a greater ability to remain constant in chaos. In fact, the jovial and light-hearted moments of this year were few and far between, and seemed almost to punctuate sadness. Was this the JOY I was looking for?
Well, no. And yes.
It wasn’t the JOY I was hoping for, but it was JOY that I found.
Paul reminds the Romans to “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12). Interesting how closely he places joy and hope to affliction and prayer. Hmmmm. Almost as if that’s where joy tends to reside.
He had also pleaded with the Philippians: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: ‘Rejoice!’ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:4-7) Notable, again, how near joy sits to anxiousness and need. And that rejoicing is possible at all times.
So what about Happiness then?
Back in February of 2017 I wrote about the artificial division we Christians sometimes make between JOY and HAPPINESS. And I considered how God intended them to be intertwined, though they aren’t identical in nature. So now I sit and think about how fleeting moments of happiness have seemed this year, even though I have consistently been strengthened by the JOY of the Lord.
Was I perhaps more strategic in 2018 about pursuing JOY in my need than I was about pursuing HAPPINESS?
But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. (Psalm 68:3)
Choose JOY and Choose HAPPY
In 2019 I am going to be more strategic to choose happy. I am going to look for happiness, document happiness, celebrate happiness, and promote happiness. Through my writing, my leading, my business building, my whatever, I believe I can find the promised happiness of the Lord as I continue to choose joy.
How about you? Do you have a word for 2019? Share in the comments below how you resolve to pursue it in this coming year.