STEWARDSHIP
New Year’s Resolutions
T
he New Year has arrived, and we have all been busy making — and trying to keep — our list of New Year’s resolutions. Many of us choose resolutions geared toward health and fitness. After all, possessing good overall health is critical to our wellbeing. Others may try to avoid a particularly bad habit. Maybe you need to quit smoking or stop swearing. Still, many of us plan things we have always wanted to do, but never get around to doing. As the days of January continue onward, however, many of us find the inspiration of keeping our good-intentioned resolutions to be fading fast. By the end of the month, most of us have given in to our temptations and returned to our old ways. We are only human, right? Discouraged by this yearly failure, many of us don’t even bother making New Year’s resolutions anymore, especially if we feel like we won’t succeed. Maybe our failures lie in both how we make our resolutions and what resolutions we actually choose. What we need to understand is the “root” of our resolution. For example, if you resolve to eat less candy to drop those recently added holiday pounds, is the “root” of your resolution a selfish one — wanting to look better since you overindulged? Or, are you genuinely seeking to stop giving in to each “sweet tooth” craving by practicing mortification — continued on back cover
Tying your New Year’s resolutions into the principles of stewardship — giving of your time, talent and treasure back to God — is a great way to ensure that the “root” of your resolution is right on track!
