We are now several weeks into the new year. How are you doing with those resolutions that you had hoped would alter your life or at least adjust it for a period of time? Blogger Mick de Boer shared a survey and article in which he reported “19 Mind-Blowing New Year’s Resolution Statistics (2023).” He indicated that 38% of US adults set New Year’s resolutions every year. The largest demographic group to do so are young adults (18-34) at 59% of those who make them. The top three resolutions are health-related with “exercise more” being the top one. However, the great intentions did not necessarily produce great results as 23% quit after the first week, 36% do not make it past the first month, and only 9% keep their resolution throughout the year. He also discovered that “People over 55 are 3 times less likely to have resolutions compared to younger adults.” Perhaps Stephen Shapiro, author of “Goal Free Living: How to Live the Life You Want Now,” offers a correct assessment as to why older folks quit making resolutions. He writes, “At some point, people just decide to stop hurting themselves, and they call the whole thing off.” So, if your resolution to avoid the leftover holiday candy dish and walk three miles a day is still in place, congratulations. Call me to come over to empty your candy dish to help you!!
Perhaps the grocery-list-of-resolutions is
the wrong approach to make life altering course corrections. Maybe establishing
a guiding principle for all of life is a better approach. The principled life
is one that allows the bigger, all-encompassing goal to alter all the lesser
goals for life. This is the approach the Apostle Paul uses as he is encouraging
a church that was living in a culture that could easily sabotage the zeal a
person might have for an altered life. He shared this guiding principle, “So be
careful how you act; these are difficult days. Don’t be fools; be wise: make
the most of every opportunity you have for doing good. Don’t act thoughtlessly
but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to” (Ephesians 5:15-17
NLT). Running one’s attitudes and actions through this grid would certainly cause
one to stop and consider what they are doing. Simple questions like: “Is this
wise? Is this good? Is this thoughtful? Is this what God would want me to do?”—
would certainly have a great impact upon how one would live in this world. The guiding
principle and related questions would also have a broader impact on our lives.
The principle would give us an expansive outlook into other areas of our lives
beyond the selective resolutions we make.
Bernard Baruch, an American financier and international
statesman, once said, “Whatever failures I have known, whatever errors I have
committed, whatever follies I have witnessed in private and public life, have
been the consequences of action without thought.” Too often our impulses lead
us and not guiding principles which give one the opportunity to pause and
reflect upon the unintended consequences of our actions. Thus, we rush into
decisions that are both harmful to ourselves and damaging to others. Many times,
we have said, “If I had only thought that one through…” But we didn’t. The
guiding principle for our life was neglected and as a result we are surrounded
by the rubble of the disaster of misguided decisions.
While reading a little bit about the
sinking of the Titanic recently, I was intrigued by the guiding principle that
was ignored as the “unsinkable” ship cruised through the North Atlantic on
April 14, 1912. The result we know was a disaster and the catastrophic loss of 1,514
lives. On the 100th anniversary of the tragedy, Alan Boyle, Science
Editor, NBC News, wrote a piece entitled “10 Causes of the Titanic Tragedy.”
Among his findings were clear facts that showed that there was a key guiding
principle ignored. This contributed to the catastrophe. One of the 10 causes
that stands out was that the iceberg warnings went unheeded. The warning should
have altered the ship’s speed and extra precautions should have been taken.
They weren’t. Captain Smith maintained full ahead speed of the ship as he decided
to beat the record of a sister ship in the White Star fleet. Another cause Boyle
noted was the binoculars for lookouts were locked up. They could have aided the
lookouts on the night of the collision. Some historians have speculated that
the fatal iceberg might have been spotted earlier if lookouts had them. These
are some of the issues that stand out possibly underscoring the major factor
that the general principle of “safety first” was not guiding the officers of
the ill-fated ship.
How many have “sailed” into this new year wanting a different outcome and make resolutions. Would it be more advantageous to seek to carry out an overarching guiding principle that would help us navigate all of life. The Bible provides numerous principles. They are worth considering and implementing. Sail through this year as a person that has a wise principle guiding them as they journey through 2023.
