Resolutions – Sunday, January 01, 1984
It is the time of year to put up a new calendar and with-it new hope for a new life. It is the time when even under gray skies, things seem fresh and hopeful and some hidden impulse to new excellence awakens in the soul.
And so, we write resolutions and make goals—which we usually discard in a few days.
Why? Because when we get right down to the nitty-gritty of every day living, this year will seem much the same as last. Pressures will grind at us, commitments will chop at our time, and our goals won’t be any easier to achieve this year than last. That’s not to say they are not possible or won’t be done, they just aren’t any easier.
Those who really want and expect to do better this year will do well to adopt this operating principle: anything that is worthwhile will be difficult to do. Achievement always has and always will demand a high price. The butterfly who sheds its cocoon struggles, and so must we if we shed our character flaws—or even a few pounds.
It is when we think that the accomplishment of our goals ought to be easy that we give up at the last obstacle. We aren’t geared for a battle and are therefore surprised when we get one.
Forging new habits is not easy because the old ones, like cow paths in the woods, have been trodden so many times. It is far simpler to follow a course of least resistance than to strain against it and forge a new way.
No poem would have been written; no invention devised if their creators had given up at the least sign of difficulty.
Now, this reality should not discourage us, but empower us. Anticipating problems gives us the insight and the power to meet them. Paradoxically, once we understand that the battle to master ourselves is difficult, it becomes less so. Then, when things do not fall easily into place, we do not become angry or bitter, but tougher,
And it is the tough ones who can make their best intentions realities.
For all of us who tremble before our good resolutions this year, wondering if we can ever achieve them, let us be heartened by the words of Lloyd Jones. “The men who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed.”1
We cannot be improved without first being proved.
1 As quoted In Leaves of Gold, Lytle, Clyde Francis, editor The Cosslett Publishing Company. pg. 36
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January 01, 1984
Broadcast Number 2,837