Life Solutions Instead of Resolutions

January first is a perfect day.  It’s a new beginning. The year’s a blank slate.  For once we know that we can keep each and every one of the commitments we made to ourselves.  For one entire day anything will seem possible.

But then reality hits and most of us feel too exhausted to even think about all those resolutions we made with such conviction and hope.  So this year, instead of resolutions I’m suggesting we make life solutions.

What do life solutions look like?

They’re based upon the heart of the gospel -- the grace and love of God --- the promise that we can be born again, start all over, and become a new person.  It is the miracle of a cosmic “do-over”. 

What’s the first step? 

The first step is to spend some time in deliberate prayer where you concentrate on finding the image of your life that God has for you, free of all the “should haves” and “could haves” and mistakes made and opportunities missed. 

Cut yourself free from all of these and listen for God to reveal His portrait of you as His child.  Dream dreams.  Let your imagination fly.  Do not limit the possibilities of you.  Remember, with God nothing is impossible.

A famous Jewish rabbi, Rabbi Zusia, told his congregation before he died, “When I face the celestrial tribunal, I shall not be asked why I was not Abraham, Jacob, or Moses, but why I was not the best Rabbi Zusia that I could be.”

Your life solution will make you the best Patricia, the best Richard, the best Tommy, you can be. What our life solutions look like will be different for each one of us because God made each of us unique, but in the end we will discover that the essence will be the same --- love:  Love of God, and at long last, love for ourselves.