Day by Day

This time of year many people are making resolutions and harboring hopes of a better year, a more productive year, a happier year ahead. We go along for days, weeks, or sometimes even a month or two with those goals and hopes and then something happens that destroys our resolution. Maybe we fail at keeping the goals or a life event dims our hope and we abandon the resolutions thinking we’ve blown it again this year. This is one of the reasons New Year resolutions fail—because we are thinking in terms of years. We set the goal for a year and it is only February! So we wait until next year to begin the process again.

But new beginnings don’t have to be measured in years. At one point in Paul’s teachings, he tells the Corinthians, “Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). In other words, our bodies might be growing older and becoming weaker, but our inward being, our spirits, are renewed daily through Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.

That is one reason I like having a word for the year instead of goal resolutions. My word is not something that is kept or broken like a goal; it just floats with me in whatever I am doing. If I am cleaning house, I’m thinking rejuvenate—do it better than ever before. If I am studying, I’m thinking rejuvenate my studies—have more enthusiasm and excitement in my study. If I am with an old friend, I’m thinking rejuvenate my friendship—don’t take friendship for granted but cherish it. Instead of feeling like something extra to do, my word resolution enhances and invigorates everything I am already doing. In this way I help the natural process of letting the Spirit renew me day by day by day without getting discouraged or being tempted to give up. I love it!