New Year opportunity for new spiritual growth

We are beginning a new year. With every new year we have a chance to look at ourselves and see where we want to go and who we want to become. I want to pass on some advice of authors, poets and spiritual writers that might be helpful in your spiritual life.

Peggy Toney Horton tells us, “As the old year retires and a new one is born, we commit into the hands of our Creator the happenings of the past year and ask for direction and guidance in the new one. May he grant us his grace, his tranquility and his wisdom!” Good advice.

Jonathan Edwards spells out a New Year’s Resolution quite simply, “Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.” Basically, this is the first Commandment of the 10 – to put God first. Anyone or anything we put before God becomes our idol. God must be first.

Goran Persson reminds us of the second part of our loving: “Let our New Year’s resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.” We need each other. What we do for the least of brothers and sisters, we do to Jesus.

We all want to be happy. No one else can make us happy. Happiness comes from within a person not for outside. Others can share our happiness but we are responsible for our own happiness. Helen Keller reminds us, “Your success and happiness lie in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you will form an invincible host against difficulties.”

To become fully alive in the Lord, we must learn to act instead of reacting. Tucker Carlson put it well when he says, “I have no way of knowing how people really feel, but the vast majority of those I meet couldn’t be nicer. Every once in a while someone barks at me. My New Year’s resolution is not to bark back.” Try it!

Our resolutions can be very profound but very simple. Cyril Cusack states his task for the year: “If you asked me for my New Year Resolution, it would be to find out who I am.” Most of the time we define ourselves by our roles in life – I am a mother, father, student, or by something we do – work in the oil fields, a secretary, etc. That is not who we are. We have to spend time reflecting on our lives and the qualities and characteristics that define our personalities.

Neil Gaiman reminds us that we learn by mistakes: “I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.”

We all need purpose and direction in our lives. Melody Beattie tells us, “Make New Year’s goals. Dig within, and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. This helps you do your part. It is an affirmation that you’re interested in fully living life in the year to come.

“Goals give us direction. They put a powerful force into play on a universal, conscious, and subconscious level. Goals give our life direction. What would you like to have happen in your life this year? What would you like to do, to accomplish? What particular areas of growth would you like to have happen to you? What blocks, or character defects, would you like to have removed?”

Brad Paisley reminds us, “Tomorrow, is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.” Happy New Year! •