New Year's Resolutions

We're all familar with the cliche of resolving to make lifechanging decisions at the beginning of the new year. This past Sunday, I asked church members of their plans for the new year. One 13 year-old spoke up and said, "I made several resolutions, but I've forgotten them." That was on January 1!

She was probably kidding, but it's the sad truth that our minds ... my mind ... plays games with me. What seems so important one moment becomes fleeting the next. One goal is replaced with another, and another, and so on. Then we look back on a given year and wonder, "What happened to the year?"

Resolutions are good, but we don't like failure. And yet, doesn't failure at least signify that we took the time to set goals? Is it better to have put the carrot out there and not quite grabbed it, then to not even have attempted to reach it?

Of course it is. And so, here are just a few things I resolve to improve upon in 2006:

• In December 2005 I set the goal of a nine percent weight reduction by June 30, 2006. I have nine percent left to achieve.
• I want to work smarter. If my daytime is not spent working for God, either through my business or through my church, then it is not time well spent.
• I want to play more strategically. If my evenings and weekends are not spent building up my family, then it isn't time well spent.
• I want to remember that my cup is always half full, not half empty. Sometimes my cup even runs over. It's just an attitude thing ... believing what I fully believe is already true.
• I want to live for today, for tomorrow, and for eternity simultaneously. Can this be done? Is it possible to have a healthy balance in life between enjoying the day you're living, while planning for tomorrow, while always keeping an eternal perspective? I'm going to give it my best shot.

Those are a few of mine. What do you resolve 2006 to be?