So it's another year, a seeming fresh start, and time to make some resolutions!
Which will be broken forthwith, leaving us feeling pretty miserable about ourselves, our character, our apparent weakness of will. The resolution broken breaks part of the year. (It's hard to measure, but some say that a quarter of all new year's promises Gail in the first week, half are done by the end of January, and less than 10% make it through the year. Your milage may vary; mine is worse.
But what if...it's not us?
What if that kind of oath taking itself is the problem?
After all, didn't Jesus Himself say, in the fifth chapter (verses 34-37) of Matthew's gospel,
Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: but I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne: nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
And so, a resolution, even one sworn in the privacy of the heart, is a problem.
There's history to this; the Babylonians would make promises to their gods on the new year, which, if fulfilled, would bring blessings. Likewise, the Romans sacrificed to the two-faced God Janus (one face looked ahead, the other looked back), and believed that living up to new year's promises, along with touching his sculpted faces, would bring good fortune in the year ahead.
And, yes, that's where 'January' comes from.
The pagan roots of new year's resolutions, then, may be the heart of the matter. It's a turning away from God to a muttering of incantations, a worship of the calendar, and a descent into, as Kipling put it, 'our loved Egyptian night.'
There's clearly nothing wrong with making a decision to follow a better path, but it's a decision that has to be made afresh each day. There's just nothing special about January, and a lot wrong with tying turning over a new leaf to a specific day.
Music from the late, great Dan Fogelberg, with Another Auld Lang Syne.
Sylvia doesn't do calendars.
I had no thought of the connection to pagan religions with resolutions. I agree it's much more helpful to make whatever decisions we need to daily through the year rather than waiting for a specific day.
ReplyDeleteWe do put a lot of emphasis on the calendar when it's not about the calendar at all. :) May we all do what works best for us in living our most healthy, whole lives. Thanks for hosting us into the new year, Andrew!
ReplyDeleteYes to fresh resolve every day!!
ReplyDeleteExcellent point about resolutions and New Years Andrew. I look at it more like a whole year of God's path for me to walk. Thankful that I am walking with Him.
ReplyDeleteWow, I just learned something. Thank you!
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