Before You Make Another Resolution

by Bronwyn Lea

Sophia is the Greek word for Wisdom, and Propel Sophia seeks out the voices of truly wise women and asks them to share worked examples of how they express faith in daily life. Pull up a chair at Sophia’s table, won’t you? There’s plenty of space. Learn more here.

Is it just me, or is “the most wonderful time of the year” immediately followed by “the most intentional time of the year?” Gym memberships, financial planning seminars, and 30 day diets (or health re-sets, if you prefer) somehow seem more appealing in January as we take stock on the failings and feasting of the weeks and months before, and try to re-orient ourselves for the year ahead.

The voice in my head sounds a little like the classic cartoon Pinky and the Brain: “Gee, Brain, what are we going to do this year?” “The same thing we do every year, Pinky,” comes the reply. But instead of “try to take over the world” (as Brain aims to), my list includes old favorites like reducing my sugar intake, exercising more, sleeping and praying more, and spending less time on screens.

This is hardly the stuff of Yoda-like wisdom. The list is so predictable it hardly seems worth making any “resolutions” about it. But there’s something deeply human (and deeply Christian) about making resolutions: our journey of faith begins with repentance—a decision to stop living for ourselves and to follow Jesus—which is the most important resolution of all. And the journey of faith continues with daily resolutions: “forgetting what is behind, we press on…” writes Paul in Philippians 3:13. And so, deciding to treat each new year as a kind of new day, in which God’s mercies are “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23), it’s worth being reflective and intentional about how we want to spend our time on earth.

What is unnerving, though, is that my list of resolutions—which includes things like “get 7 hours of sleep”, and “download an audio bible app and listen daily”—looks strikingly similar to last year’s list And the year before that too. There is nothing new under the sun, the wise King said in Ecclesiastes. Nothing new indeed.

A little time in Ecclesiastes is refreshing, though, for seasons of resolution-making. At a time of year when we roll out all sorts of ambitions and plans of things we hope to do, hope to be, and hope to accomplish; the teacher of Ecclesiastes (a veteran in life-changing plans and projects himself) reminds us that these things are destined to be fleeting, unless we find our motivation and comfort in knowing God and being known by him.

“Meaningless” is the word most commonly associated with Ecclesiastes, but perhaps a better translation of the Hebrew word hebel is “fleeting” or “short-lived.” Whatever it is that the Teacher had planned: gardening, a dating strategy, managing his money, or accomplishing (other, amazing, fill-in-the-blank awesome) projects – his conclusion in the end was that they were all hebel: fleeting, transitory, here today but gone tomorrow.

What made the difference between those endeavors being baloney or blessed, says the teacher, was whether you did them mindful of God: knowing Him, revering Him, thanking Him, and enjoying good things as gifts from his hand. And so, as I look at the year ahead and consider my options, these (slightly abridged) words from Ecclesiastes are echoing in my thoughts:

“Remember your Creator in the days of your Resolution-making, before the busy days come and the to-do lists are forgotten… The end of the matter is this, after all has been heard: Fear God and keep his commandments – for this is everything God requires of us.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1, 13)

I’m making a list (and checking it twice ), and holding it with open hands before the Father who loves me and who has promised that just as he has begun a good work in me, so he will bring it to completion in Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6). Even if I flake out on my resolutions, He will never flake out on his. His mercies are new every morning, so we get to start each day—and year—afresh.

Bronwyn Lea

Bronwyn Lea is an author, speaker, activist, and most recently, editorial curator for Propel Sophia. She loves Jesus, puns, her home country of South Africa, her adopted country of the US, her endlessly patient husband, her three goofy kids, wisdom and justice, seeing women thrive in the Kingdom, and quality ice-cream (in no particular order). Find her online on the web, and follow on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.