The Beginning of a New Year
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The beginning of a New Year can be a very measurable gift for self-help, self-improvement. People instinctively realize this and that is why so many of us make resolutions to live differently, to do things differently, to improve ourselves and improve the relationships that we have around us.
The other day, I referred to the fact that most New Year’s resolutions are sincere failures. That does not have to be the case because self-improvement really ought to be a concern and the goal of each and every one of us. How different life would be, how different our own individual lives would be, if each of us throughout our lives, throughout our years, steadily worked to improve ourselves to make us better persons, better human beings, better followers of Jesus.
Self-improvement is obvious and natural when we are young. We go from kindergarten to high school and from college to our professional work lives. As we make this journey, goals are set for us to improve ourselves and to accomplish new goals.
Then comes the crest!
Life levels off and we have our faith, we have our family, we have our work and we plod on into it day by day without giving much thought to improvement. I don’t mean to preach to the readers. Rather let me preach to myself for a moment. I have some very real weaknesses and these weaknesses manifested themselves in 2011. What am I going to do about them? What can I do to get rid of that bad trait, that habit of weakness, that lackadaisical approach to self-improvement?
I know the answer. I have to identify the issue. It doesn’t always have to be negative. It is really wonderful to pursue positive goals in our lives as well. However, let’s keep it on the negative for just a moment. What is the issue? Why do I do that? What can I factor into my life to make me avoid doing that in the future?
I do not do nearly as much serious reading as I should. Two of my weaknesses contribute to this. The first one is that I often find myself to be lazy. Secondly, I am addicted to the news. If I cut my news addiction in half, it would open up hundreds of hours for serious reading in the area of spirituality, theology, politics and economics. I am determined to do that and I will give you a report next year.
Now about my laziness….
Themocracy