The Branch's Resolution

At the brink of each passing of the modern calendar year, scores of people resolve to change themselves by focusing on a habitual tendency. Something they want to get rid of. Something they want to add that's missing.

Life takes on perhaps the most introspective viewpoint of the year during the day that is literally like every other day. January first is no different than August seventh. But we make it so because a small number changes on everything we read, write on, or look at. Today, it will change from a "9" to a "10". It is the nearly global self-assesment beacon. It alerts us to spend at least a moment to look inward. It alerts us to assess who we are in our accomplishments or what we need to do next in order to 'upgrade' with that small digit. And it is the greatest of socially shared contexts for personal, simultaneous sin.

We love us... quite a bit, really. I often do, at least. I'm probably the biggest fan of "me". And there's not a whole lot more that we like to do than to think of ourselves and ponder ways to make "me" into something even better. And when New Years rolls around, we jump on a lot of opportunities to take advantage of how we can better ourselves in the future (new habits, new activities, etc) or pat ourselves on the back for the past (accomplishments, experiences, etc).

The majority of the world is aware of the new year and the trends of comparing our past year with what we want to do in the next. But do we look with eyes of praising God for our past, and pleading to our Father for our future? Or do we spend all of that time looking... inward?

New Years isn't a horrible thing... it's just a lot easier to become a deeper lover of ourselves. Or to simply take our eyes off the One who gave us all the grace we desperately needed to even be who we are (in Christ, no less... remember "I am the vine, you are the branches"?)

I like making changes in my life. I love it, actually. Especially when it involves my best friend, Jesus Christ. When I see that I've learned more about Him in September than I did in August, I like it a lot. January can be just like any other month, and to make a resolution isn't a bad thing. Making changes and praying that they actually happen is wonderful if it glorifies God.

So this New Year, please pray that your brother (that's me) and the rest of your family (that's all of you) will spend as much time as we can fighting against introspection and seeking... Christ-o-spection... or whatever it's called. He is to be praised for 2009; all of it. And our Father is He who will guide us through 2010 by His grace... no differently than 2009, or 2000, or 1258, or 33 when He crushed His Son for our sins that He would be exalted and glorified.