To resolve or not to resolve?

My kitchen window faces due East, and in the winter, this is the view I have at about 6:45 every morning.

On this first morning of the New Year it was –1°F when daylight broke.

Yup, it was cold all right when I ventured out to feed the birds. But, it wasn’t too bad compared to other places North and East of here. It could be worse.

I have thought a bit about making some resolutions to put into practice this year. I’ve thought about spending 15 minutes every day cleaning something in the house besides the usual mess in the kitchen. I have thought about making a list of people that I need to pray for and then actually praying for them.

I intend to do both of these things. I feel very motivated to succeed, possibly because these are reasonable goals – small steps – rather than high and lofty goals or resolutions that mean a total upheaval in lifestyle that are unrealistic and that almost always fail. I’ll have to see how it goes…

Our pastor gave a thought-provoking sermon yesterday about the New Year. She adapted three suggestions from Father Rudolph Novecosky’s book Homilies for Everyday Life:

Pull Back: choose 1 day a month to start with to pull back from judging and criticism and send out love instead.

Pick Up: pick up a worthwhile value others have started

Put Down: put down last year’s emotional garbage – hurts, disappoints -- and leave them behind.

Sounds like a plan...