Persevering in Those Resolutions

Spirituality Column #60
January 1, 2008
Current! In Carmel (IN) newspaper

Persevering in Those Resolutions
By Bob Walters

When I was a kid at church, the Episcopal priest one day was talking about the custom of giving up things for Lent (the 40 days before Easter).

He made fun of a mythical church adult who made a big deal about “giving up sweets for Lent” and was enjoying all the attention for the effort … but also still enjoying the sweets when out of public view.

The priest’s point – which stuck forever in my mind – was that it is very difficult to “give up” something when you advertise it to others.

That isn’t just a Bible or Christian thing; that is a Truth of Life as a Human Being thing: it is hard to do something hard when people are watching you.

Fourteen years ago, Jan. 1, 1994, I quit smoking. I just stopped. A pack or more a day habit for 13 and a half years … and I just stopped. Big New Years Eve party, smoked, got home around 1:30 a.m. Got up the next day and haven’t smoked since.

I had been contemplating quitting for a while. It was the year I turned 40. With sons ages 6 and almost 2, it was my love for them and my desire to see them grow up that inspired my wanting to quit. I marveled at how much strength I somehow found to actually follow through.

It is important to note at that time I was twenty-some years into my 30-years of not going to church and seven years before I came to the Lord. But remembering that childhood sermon about Lent, I didn’t tell anyone I was trying to quit smoking.

Except I told God, who I did not know very well. But I prayed anyway … who else could I tell? Looking back, that is where my strength came from.

Yes, we are to love others, find strength in others, and be strong for others. But nothing is as strong as our bond with God through Christ. Through Christ we can do all things.

This is the time of year we all have some sort of resolution, aspiration or hope for the New Year. Don’t feel you have to tell anyone about yours … except God.

He’ll help you. And He already knows anyway.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) wishes you a New Year rich in a deep, growing and abiding faith in Christ. That is something you should tell someone about.