I first heard of New Year’s resolutions in high school. Several classmates were making a list. I made a list and happily told my parents. They frowned. “That’s a Catholic thing, not a Christian thing,” they said.
(In our fundamentalistic world, Catholics were not Christians since they were not born-again and did not place the Bible above the pope.)
“Catholics hope to save themselves by doing good works. Real Christians don’t need to. We are saved by faith in Jesus. Heaven is guaranteed. Secured. Nothing more need be done.”
(You must admit that’s a pretty good deal if you can get it.)
Well, I said, what if I resolve to have more faith in Jesus this year?
“Faith isn’t like that. Either you have it or you don’t. You’re a mustard seed or you’re not.”
I finally saw how that works.
EUREKA!
Either you’re pregnant or you’re not.
So this year I will not aim to be all that I can be. I am all that I can be. Already.
This year I will not aim to be here now. I am here now. Already.
This year I will not aim to breathe in and out. I am breathing in and out. Already.
This year I will not aim to let it all hang out. I am letting it all hang out. Already. Here and now.
This year I will not aim to be the one I’m waiting for. I am the one I’ve been waiting for. Already.
This year I will not aim to be myself. I am myself. Already.
(And you are me as I am you as we are altogether.)
This year I will not aim to be the hero of my own story. I am the hero of my own story. Already. I’ve spread my wings. I’m soaring like an eagle. I am a rose. I am a rock. I am a bridge over troubled water.
I am the champion of the world.
This year I will not aim to be delusional. I am. Already.
There are many noble New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps you’ve made a few. But if you have time for only one, resolve to make this your daily mantra:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
And that will be enough.
“Ref: As a theologian, Niebuhr is best known for his “Christian Realism,” which emphasized the persistent roots of evil in human life. In his Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932) he stressed the egoism and the pride and hypocrisy of nations and classes.“
Hello from here, in my 28th year of sobriety (and recitation of said “Serenity Statement”).
I enjoy AA more these days having found the online community of Secular recovery. I am here now, who I am now, without supernatural ideations, gurus, dogma or powers beyond myself.
I live in a Church town. I listened to a pretty smart fellow talk about why the people in his church wouldn’t get vaccinated. Their premise disregarding science confused him. I pondered: their faith in an alleged being and his story written decades or centuries later conflicts with modern science.
My Reverend friend met me for lunch yesterday. Her brother died last week when the lung transplant failed. What she kept saying was “I’m angry”. She can’t say at whom – not the Doctors, or the hospital who gave him failing lungs, and she won’t say At God. Another science vs prayer intersection.
Anyway. From here to there, me to you: keep up your work (against the persistent roots of evil) and for Good Trouble.
I have had the same New Year’s resolution for a number of years (after watching a Walmart mother publicly berate her child) = To not knowingly contribute to rancor in the world. The original did not include “knowingly,” but I learned in a short time that one can create rancor unintentionally.
Well said!
And that is enough…( I am enough). Love
Loved this gift this morning. I am a Catholic, I consider myself a Christian too! I smiled as I read your gift. I’m all the things you mentioned. But I know that I cannot be all these things without God’s help. I believe God looks out for me all the time. My granddaughter recently got a speeding ticket, her first and was so upset. She called her mother and was talking on the phone telling her the officer warned her to slow down as there were deer crossing the road at 10:30 at night. As she was complaining she hadn’t seen a deer on her 10 hour drive getting back to college — and then out of no where came a deer crossing the road in front of her. After the ticket she had slowed down and was able to completely miss the deer. God was looking after her. And he looks after all of us, if we just believe.
Yes Yes Yes. There’s more real, struggling spirituality around a 12 step table where folks work out loud their prayers, fears and hope…and growing faith than in mega evangelical churches of thousands.
Finding the balance between rest and motion, between what is and what awaits, between what I am and what is calling me, is a life-long challenge. Everything is changing and either coming to rest or beginning to move. Finding one’s place and right action is the pursuit of the aspiring mystic.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. This is the basis of the I Ching (The Book of Changes), It is a book of wisdom and divination in which movement is made visible so that we may find the balance that your biblical quote references. When one is attuned, the workings of the universe can be perceived in the movement of a branch, in the shape of a blossom, in the flight of a bee. It is the mystic that seeks to become this attunement, and enables one to be in harmony with the workings of the world.
“As the daylight ends, and the night comes creeping on, let this hour of silent prayer take away these worldly cares. For, her Endless Love comes down streaming from above. No one lost or left behind, just One Heart, Just One Mind.” – Lyrics to Your Light Shines On and On and On – by Michael
Blessings on the New Year
My favorite line in your thoughtful blog is this one: “This year I will not aim to be delusional. I am. Already.” It takes a sense of humility and humor to look within, to fully accept one’s strengths and flaws, a holy mix of nuances and ultimate self-acceptance. Theologian Paul Tillich asks us “to accept the fact that you are accepted”. The serenity prayer mantra also points in that direction with clarity and balance. Knowing we are enough “already”, may deep wisdom make “the difference” in our lives!
I resolve to be me and nobody else—except I might try out Tom Brady since he’s immortal, or maybe Putin and advocate for world peace, or Hillary Clinton and demand a redo of the “stolen election.” But, on second thought, I’ll just be plain old me, since I’ve had a lot of experience in that realm. And, I don’t know of anyone who can do me better (at least for now).
“Just be yourself, no matter what they say.” —Sting
Good comments from all. I so appreciate them.
Resolution doesn’t come at any particular time. It is work to be resolute.
To my mind there is only one task remaining for me: to serve the healing of the planet and its creatures and processes with all the design ability I have or can learn or will pass on in common experience.
The practical reinvention of our global patterns that we must achieve if we are to avoid societal collapse is daunting. Our reinvention is not a linear task. It requires whole-system, diverse analysis and redesign of our most fundamental superstructures and patterns.
Is that even possible? I believe it is if we each work as quanta- (hah, “points of light” needs dusting off.) Each of us knows what needs to be done, or at least where to begin, within our own skill sets and resource bases. Information Technology provides us with a profoundly broad access to data.
It is only the will to take up the task which remains unresolved.
I was reminded by a friend today that the term “radicle” refers to the first burst of root from a plant rhizome; reaching for the water below. So, my Resolution? To be a radicle. Family and community are my rhizome.
I see no map; only the capillary force of idea streams pulling through me, drawing me down into the planet as I learn.
Learning is Love y’alls; love’s the thing. Love the world.
I am humbled to submit my occasional simplistic comments. I thank Randy, of course, but also everyone whose wisdom and scholarship expressed on this site continues so to help me approach the wrap-up of my life with unvarnished Gratitude, and yes, Love.
I grew up in 1950’s Alabama in the “Suthern” Presbyterian Church. I was a Good Boy. I didn’t question. It was not until I was exposed to a certain Presbyterian Chaplain at my Army post in Germany in 1964 that I was introduced to the thinking of a renegade Anglican Bishop named James A.T. Robinson, who had rocked his church with a book, “Honest to God,” blasting the concept of the “Three-tiered Universe,” and picking up on the philosophies of modern theology I had never heard of, Paul Tillich, Reinhold Niebuhr, Martin Boenhoeffer and others – all way over my head in their esoteria, but collectively expressing the thinking I could grasp while more recently approaching the succeeding generations of writers like Borg, Pagels, and too many others to mention.
I LOVE this weekly encouragement to challenge our thinking, but more than that , our hearts.