It’s a tradition in my house that every New Year’s Day, as my wife, my children, and I sit down to eat, we talk about what our New Year’s resolutions will be. I’d like to say that what gets presented are meaningful ideas, full of deep self-examination and dedicated focus on improvement and growth. But mostly it’s all just standard stuff: lose some weight, learn a skill, work harder, relax more, be kinder, more patient, healthier. It sounds more like wishes than intentions after a while. And before long, most of it gets lost in the shuffle of day-to-day life. Not abandoned… just settled into a predetermined comfort zone.
By the time the next New Year rolls around, we either feel bad for failing to live up to our own goals, or we can’t even remember what we had intended to do. There’s an entire marketing scheme built on selling us permanent reminders of our negligence, in the form of exercise bikes and other workout gear destined to become convenient clothes hangers.
I’ve learned not to put much faith in the self-promises spoken around the table on January 1st. It’s a fun moment, but to me it’s not much different than reading fortune cookies.
Besides, for me, the new year really started a month earlier. It’s happening now, as I write this. Tomorrow is the First Sunday of Advent, and if there are resolutions to be made, I think this is a better time to make them.
The word “resolution” has an interesting meaning. Modern usage has it conveying a strong decision or statement, but its Latin root actually means “to loosen or untie.” We commonly “resolve” to bind ourselves to strict diets, exercise or activity routines, and disciplined practices meant to force alteration of our bodies or our minds. And yet the true heart of the word we use suggests being set free.
That’s why I look to Advent as the time to make resolutions; not because I seek to bind myself to some alteration of behaviour, but rather so that I may invite the coming Christ to set me free from all the ways the world tries to bind me. I don’t need to take part in fad diets, buy a yoga mat and a set of weights, or read a series of self-help books. I just need to know the love of Christ and let it free me. And in doing so, I can share it more readily with others, which is the purpose to which we are all called.
It doesn’t have to be Advent, of course, any more than it has to be January 1st. These are just moments on a calendar, and the freedom to which we are invited is available always. It doesn’t require a subscription or special equipment. But by committing to a closer relationship with Jesus, resolving to let Him share in the burdens we carry, so much more can be achieved than we ever could do on our own.
Make your resolution… loosen your bonds and be set free in Christ… and have a very happy New Year.
