New Year Resolutions Need to be Spiritually Rooted

Dear Ladies,


When the New Year rings in, there is this little voice in my mind saying you can start reading your Bible in a Year, start a healthy diet plan, and stay on your weekly grocery budget.  Why do I wait until the New Year?  


Then after awhile, I am too far behind to catch up in my Bible in a Year, I have had two or three doughnuts and I am 50.00 into next weeks food budget.  


What has happened to me?  Am I not committed enough?  Too discouraged to continue once I get behind?  Do I believe I need to wait until next year and get a better start? 


That is my list of excuses.  Sound familiar?  Maybe different resolutions but the outcome is the same.


What I need to do is put on my Jesus glasses and have a look around.  First, if I can apply God's word and principles to everything maybe I can look at it differently.  


Maybe I need to look at it differently!


Maybe reading God's word has become rigid and joyless.  Just like taking a car from point A to point B.  It serves it's purpose but it has become routine.


I need to pray about it first and asking for my joy back.   God loves to spend time with me in His Word but not if I am just doing it out of my duty.  He wants my heart involved.  If I were to give this a scriptural back drop, I could point to Martha and Mary.  Oh the Martha in me, sits me down, and gets it done.  If the Mary in me would stop and reflect on the wonder of my salvation, I would drop at Jesus' feet and hear every word He utters even in my Bible in a Year.


Maybe having a doughnut once in a while is not bad in itself.  I just want to make sure I am taking the time to give my family the advantages of good health.  I have the opportunity to teach my children the responsibility of eating healthy.  We all know someone who has Diabetes or Heart Disease.  The Bible says, 'Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?'
(1 Corinthians 6:19)


God has come to live in us.  In earthly terms, if we had an important person coming to our home to stay, we would fix up the guest room!  Clean sheets, fluffed pillows, maybe fresh water in a pitcher with a fancy glass on a tray near their bed.  You would plan and prepare some healthy meals while they were around.  Funny, the minute they leave, we order hamburgers and fries.  We don't eat like we did when our guest were with us.  At least that is what happens to me.


We do all that for our human guest, but for the Lord?  Lets face it.  We would not show the guest to the bed we put in the garage, heat up the oven and pop in frozen pizza and give used towels for their bath.  Sometimes, I treat my body with bad hospitality.  I guess I could improve in this area.  


Now, living within my means!  Lately, our finances have strapped us tight.  We are budgeting everything.  The other day, I was out with my girls.  Emma, my 13 year old, had the coupon binder that she has been maintaining for the last 6 months sitting on her lap.  She was going through the coupons one last time reviewing all our options.  


I could easily be worried and full of anxiety about being on a budget.  Having gone over  budget the last two weeks, I felt more compelled to make ends meet this time.  What I am sharing with my girls has been priceless.  They are learning to live with the challenges in creative ways.  I am so glad to see them trying to make the budget.  We are about $50.00 over  for the month.  I need to thank them and encourage them to continue in their faithfulness towards their earthly father.  


New Year Resolutions need to be renewed regularly making sure they are filtered through scripture.  They are more likely to become a habit if they are grounded in the principles God has given us.   If I had stopped and waited another year,  I would not be able to share any of this with my kids.  Just another opportunity to show my kids the real me.  Not perfect, but God still loves me.  All things are possible with God.