New Year’s Resolutions

There is a preschool book, Llama Llama Holiday Drama, that in my opinion captures how we often feel after the month of December and helps explain why we suddenly crave new habits in January. Like a cry from her little heart, Llama exclaims, “Too much music, too much fluff! Too much making, too much stuff! Too much everything for Llama…” She is overfed, overspent, overdone, and overstimulated, and all of it leads to overwhelm. It’s a feeling many of us recognize around Christmastime.

Then comes January. We want to purge, clean, eat more vegetables, and cleanse. Honestly, these preschool children’s books can be so profound. Take The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a classic. After he nibbles on apples, pears, plums, strawberries, and oranges from Monday through Friday, Saturday arrives and the treats pile up: chocolate cake, an ice cream cone, a pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, a lollipop, cherry pie, a sausage, a cupcake, and a slice of watermelon. It’s the cutest book, but he ends up with a stomachache. So he eats one nice green leaf. I am still trying to find healthy boundaries when it comes to food choices.

I love to make resolutions. Do you know that person who sets outrageous goals that are completely unachievable? I am that person. Thankfully, there are friends who gently remind me to break resolutions into smaller, achievable habits. Goals are good. You may have New Year’s resolutions that focus on physical health, relational or emotional well-being, finances, or practices like journaling, reading, finishing school, or pursuing career goals. There are also goals like spending less time on screens and phones, breaking a bad habit, or working on being on time and procrastinating less. So many goals, all competing for our attention.

Week after week, my husband stands up to preach on Sunday mornings at our church, and I never quite know what he is going to say. It is always a refreshing surprise to witness his passion and the way God leads him. Since it was the week right after New Year’s, I expected a message along familiar lines, but I did not see this one coming.

Joel 1: Wake Up!

Better than resolutions is repentance.

The message was about humility.“The weight of Scripture is not on resolutions, but on repentance. We want to walk in humility, in humble dependence on God. We must decrease, and we ask You, God, to increase.”

The sermon was the first in a new series through the book of Joel, beginning with chapter one. Though only three chapters long, the message of Joel is timeless and deeply relevant for us today. What begins in Joel with a call to wake up, repent, and return to the Lord comes into full view at the Day of Pentecost. After Jesus died on the cross, about fifty days following His resurrection, the disciples were gathered together in Jerusalem. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit came with the sound of a rushing wind. Tongues of fire rested on each person, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages.

In that moment, Peter stood up to preach. And what did he preach? He quoted the prophet Joel. The message of repentance and humility in the Old Testament became a proclamation of new life and power through the Holy Spirit. Recorded in Acts chapter 2, this moment marks the birth of the early church and reminds us that God’s call has always been the same: to return to Him in humility.

Spoken by Peter shortly after Pentecost, “Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord…” (Acts 3:19–20). Personally, that is what I want: times of refreshment, renewal, and restoration. That is what repentance offers. Humility opens the door to repentance. God draws near to those who are humble in heart.

This is my New Year’s resolution: not striving harder, but returning to God in humility and repentance.