My New Year’s possible solutions
Matt Pearl
Resolutions become lies when a person doesn’t keep them, so I will call the following my list of New Year’s Possible Solutions. It’s a far more accurate title, and far less obligatory. That’s a win-win for me.
1. Genetics have aided me in avoiding fighting too much against weight gain, but have done little in pushing me in the practice of weight lifting. Exercise is going to be a must for me in 2015.
2. Teaching and publishing have been careers that have harmonized well in my life, but a perpetual goal of mine is to do a better job at each. Efficiency is usually the key, so maybe I ought to plan on becoming a more efficient worker—and writing a few more things down.
3. My third, final, and most important possible solution is to be a better family man: as a husband, as a father and in my church. My time spent with family is valuable to me, and I can do even better in 2015.
That’s a pretty short list, right? Please don’t get the impression that I kept my list short because I somehow believe I don’t need much improvement. But most of my flaws, like most folks’ shortcomings tend to be, are personal. I don’t go to a list to solve those problems: I kneel and ask for help.
And a new set of calendar months seems like the natural time for us to make promises of self-improvement to ourselves and to others, but in actuality, January 1 comes like any other day. It holds no magic, contains no inherent power to change the lives of men and women.
As we can observe in the world around us, we indeed are the force for change on the planet, in this nation and within the confines of our small communities. Hope and change ought not be reduced to a campaign slogan: the first is the promise that our lives can improve, that something better awaits us in the future; the second is an inevitable part of human existence. Things don’t stay the same, but it is our burden to labor for changes that bring about improvement, and to fight those that tempt our race into digression.
The year 2014 saw violence, disease and rumors of war. It also saw the birth of many wonderful children, the marriage of many loving couples—many dreams came true in the year we have just completed. We must hold to the hope that many more positive hopes will be fulfilled in 2015.
Self-improvement is the theme of the New Year holiday for many of us. Perhaps a better tradition would be one of appreciation for the blessings of the year that has gone before. We are a race with great potential for evil, a people who too often find motivation in greed, hatred and the pursuits of self-interests.
We also possess the capacity to serve one another, to administer kindness to our fellow people, to reject the toxic social ills that bring about strife, war and heartbreak. May your New Year be filled with the pursuit of goodness, of the virtues that have always benefitted the family of mankind.
Let us treat others as we would wish to be treated. Let us love mankind, and save hate for the wrongs we do. We wish you the best in 2015.
