Do you make New Year’s resolutions? How are you in keeping them?
Here is a thought-provoking verse:
Tomorrow will be like today, only more so. (Isaiah 56:12)
That verse is about drunkards; about getting drunk today and then tomorrow.
More broadly, however, I think that verse is about habits and expectations.
Habits and Expectations
Habits strengthen as we repeatedly employ them.
Habits relate to expectations of rewards or the future.
Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die. (Isaiah 22:13)
And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.” (Luke 12:19)
Whew!
On the other hand, of course, righteous behavior is rewarded.
Let’s Examine our Habits
For our New Year’s resolutions (or your September 1 resolutions for long-time students, teachers, and those working in schools!), let’s examine our habits.
For our good habits, resolve to continue and strengthen them.
For our bad habits, resolve to eliminate them by replacing what triggers the bad with a new response, developing a new habit.
For something we would like to do regularly, but aren’t, resolve to develop a new habit.
Assessing our habits is, of course, the easy part, but that is where we need to start.
Happy New Year!
