Resolutions

Time again for some New Year thoughts. Many people I know are having a dry January - that's definitely not for me (but then again, I'm not a big drinker, so what would be the point?). I don't do New Year resolutions to start on New Year's Day itself; there's too much Christmas food left in the house for one thing, and this year NYD was still four days away from the "normality restart" on Monday 5th tomorrow. Best to be realistic, and aim to start any serious resolutions then!

But this year, nothing too grand. I do need to eat more sensibly, and I do need to make sure my diary includes "Ann and me" time (and also "taking the Mums out somewhere interesting" time). My existing rule of life covers most other things, for example reading, study and prayer. Sometime this month or early next I shall be sitting down with Nick, my spiritual director, to have a serious look at that. Ideally, resolutions and rules of life should be stretching but doable. There's no point in aiming so high you always fail, that only leads to depression and giving up; equally, where's the gain in aiming so low that keeping the rule is easy - that won't change me for the better, but it might make me smug and self-satisfied which would be a change for the worse.

But resolutions and rules should also be appropriate: what are the things in me that need changing, and what's the best way to make that change happen? - that needs to be my starting point. Some of last year's resolutions may no longer be appropriate, even those I haven't managed to keep up with, And my rule of life, many seasons old by now, may not quite fit properly with my present responsibilities and life style.  There is work to be done, but that work is worthwhile.