Be wary of falling back into old routines

The Rev. Tom Brady, senior pastor, First United Methodist Church, 946 Vt.:

It is with good intentions that we make New Year’s resolutions. With great optimism we enter into a new year hoping to make changes, finally deciding to give up that bad habit, and sincerely desiring to better ourselves in some way. As the days in January grow colder, so do our resolutions. By February we’re back into our old routines, experiencing the feeling of failure.

If this scenario sounds familiar, your faith in a power greater than yourselves can be what makes the difference. Faith can turn our good intentions into living realities and give us the added strength that we need.

The Bible teaches us that “with God all things are possible.” Faith in God can give one the hope that with God’s help anything can happen. This added hope can help someone trying to give up an addiction, to lose weight or to change an undesirable habit.

Second, faith builds in the spiritual discipline of prayer. Daily, sometimes hourly prayer, can give us that needed strength and perseverance when making a resolution. Sometimes there is a tendency to give up out of weakness. Prayer can renew us and give us that additional strength we need to be faithful to our resolution.

Finally, faith (shared in the context of community) can create some additional accountability. Being in a small group, Bible study or support group where the resolution can be shared with others, creates greater accountability and support from people who care. When other believers are praying with (and for) you, this can make a tremendous difference.

With God, prayer and the help of others, your resolutions can become realities!

Is waiting for the new year necessary?

Judy Roitman, guiding teacher, Kansas Zen Center, 1423 N.Y.:

I never understood New Year’s resolutions. Why wait? Why New Year’s? And why resolve to do something? Why not just do it?

Which isn’t saying that change is trivial. A long time ago I was a two-and-a-half pack-a-day smoker – I even smoked in a hospital room under a steam tent for a respiratory infection. I identified so much as Judy-the-smoker that I wanted my college yearbook picture taken with a cigarette.

This is why change is hard. We think our fundamental essence is the same as our opinions and behaviors: what we like, what we don’t like, what we habitually do, what we habitually avoid. So of course it’s difficult to change. But who are we really? That’s where faith comes in. That’s where spiritual practice makes a difference. If you know who you are, you have no hindrance.

The folks in 12-step programs are right: We change when it’s time; it’s time when we see through all the lies we tell ourselves and look at what we’re actually doing; and it happens one day, one hour, one minute, one second at a time. Nobody can tell you when to do it. And nobody can stop you when you’re ready.

So don’t worry about New Year’s. Any time you want to stop yelling at the kids or start taking the dog on longer walks or exercise or eat right or give more money to charity or actually practice your religion rather than just thinking about it, just do it, no matter what day it is. What have you got to lose?