Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions

Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions

My husband loves top ten lists. I found this one the other day on the Internet from a Nielsen poll taken a couple of years ago. Are you represented here? I am. I resolve not to make resolutions. (More about that in a minute.)

1.    Stay fit and healthy 37%

2.    Lose weight 32%

3.    Enjoy life to the fullest 28%

4.    Spend less, save more 25%

5.    Spend more time with family and friends 19%

6.    Get organized 18%

7.    Will not make any resolutions 16%

8.    Learn something new/new hobby 14%

9.    Travel more 14%

10. Read more 12%

I don't quite get the percentages for each response because they clearly add up to more than 100%.  But it's interesting to see that getting or staying healthy were at the top of the list.

We are going to look a little more closely at some of these resolutions as we approach the new year. 

1. STAY FIT AND HEALTHY

This resolution implies that you are already fit and healthy -- physically. If that's true, then you already know how to stay that way. 

No doubt this requires a balance between getting the proper nutrition, water, exercise, and sleep. (This clearly would not have been my response to the survey since I don’t do any of those very well.)

What about staying fit and healthy spiritually or socially or financially? How do we do that?

It’s safe to say that spiritual, social, or financial fitness requires proper balance.
Spiritual: nutrition (consumption of God’s word), water (dependence upon the Holy

        Spirit – the living water) exercise (using our spiritual “muscles” to be prepared for spiritual challenges), rest (to avoid overload)

        Social: nutrition (learning appropriate real-life social skills – NOT social MEDIA skills), exercise (purposefully practicing these skills), rest (taking a break from social media and having a life)

        Financial: nutrition (learning sound financial practices from a Christian perspective), exercise (tithing, saving, planning, making your money behave), rest (don’t let $$ consume you)

Here’s the reason that I don’t make New Year’s resolutions – because I know that I will fail. Pretty quickly. And when we consider making a spiritual commitment to do “better,” none of us can succeed because we are human. Instead of trying to do “better” on our own, we should, instead, strive to depend more on the Lord for His strength and grace.

Lord, I want to be more physically fit but I know that won’t happen unless I work at it. And I want to be more spiritually fit, as well. But that won’t happen unless I am totally dependent on You. Give me the courage, strength, and willpower to grow spiritually and the grace I will need when I fail you.