New Year Resolutions for 2012

I'm a fan of new year resolutions.

Here's why:

People rarely slow down to honestly assess their lives these days: where they're at career-wise, the things they value, what they spend their time and money on. Now, some people still don't get it. But I like the fact that, built in to our culture, is a kind of system for self evaluation.

I thought briefly about resolutions this year, and even briefly considered resolving to make no resolutions at all. I finally decided against it. Why? Because people are all messed up and are always in need of improvement; and, when looking in the right places, a very particular type of improvement in your own life is always readily available. What I mean is, by God's grace, we can end this new year with a greater understanding of who we are, the world we live in, and what Christmas really means. (What? Yeah. Life is about Christmas. It's pretty sweet that every year ends on a high note, reminding us about the things that really matter.)

So here are my resolutions for this new year:

1. To consider it one of my highest joys to serve my wife, my children, and my family with humility, generosity, and grace.

2. To take my wife out on a date every month. (Perhaps a modest goal, but one I'm sure she'll like.)

3. To give my wife a kids-free crafting day once a month.

4. To improve my physical, emotional, and mental fitness by exercising my body regularly.


5. To pray for my wife and children daily.



For those of you wondering, I say "new year resolutions" and not "new year's..." because they are my resolutions - not the year's. I want to take ownership of them....

Let's also take a look back at my resolutions from 1/1/2011 and see how I sized up:

1. Read a minimum of four excellent books.

I only read two of the books on my short list for the year, though I did read a few others, too. The two I did read were The Reason for God and Forty Days of Musa Dagh. I'll get to the other two this year, I'm sure.

2. Pray for my family every day.

Totally didn't happen. Utter failure. But it's a good thing that God already knew that.

3. Climb 5.11a.

Also didn't happen - I don't think. But have been climbing a lot more recently. In the last two weeks, I climbed my first 5.10d and V3. My guess is that 5.11a isn't out of my reach, I just haven't had any opportunities to give a climb of that rating a shot. I attempted a 5.11b yesterday, at the end of my climbing session, and couldn't hack it. I got stuck about half-way up. If you have zero idea what I'm talking about, here's a quick intro to how climbs are rated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(climbing)

--

You might be wondering about a few things here - why 2012's resolutions don't include anything about climbing or reading. Re: climbing, I still want to climb - and climb harder - but I want to make sure my interest in climbing doesn't overshadow my service to my family. Re: reading, I still will read - and I hope to read more this year than last - but again, I'm not interested in focusing on it. I'll just do it. Hopefully.

Merry, Merry, What is Christmas?

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adventskranz_Porzellan.JPG

It's almost time for my annual new year resolutions post. I'll get to that soon. I'm still thinking about those...

But today, I want to ask you a simple question:

After the Christmas lights turn off and everybody goes back to work on a gray, overcast day in December, what are you left with? What was the point? What does Christmas mean?

Here's an interesting read if you're looking for a good answer to my question:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2011/12/23/the-best-christmas-songs-tell-the-truth

My guess is that if we really examine our own hearts, we'll find that the meaning of Christmas - for us - has been hi-jacked a little bit by our culture: good feelings, spending time with loved ones, presents, "peace on earth", "Jingle Bells", eating awesome food...

What All Great Music Does

Life is never what we expect.

Curve balls are thrown. Your dad gets cancer. You don't end up with the career you always envisioned. Your almost 30 and still single. You feel pressured to achieve the unachievable - the unidentifiably unachievable.

This is what life is.

Life is messy. Life is full of disappointments. Life is imperfect. Broken. Difficult. Desperate.

But great music can help.

There is one thing that all great songs have in common: they fill us with a sense of longing for a perfect, eternal future. They remind us that a glorious future is possible. They even contain within them a glimmer of that reality, and for a few, brief moments, we can be there. In that moment. At peace.

Music helps me to continue living.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately: what does it mean to be human? I think it means exactly what I've already described about the human experience: you feel disappointment and long for unattainable fulfillment. Or is it unattainable?

Many of my friends call me spiritual. Few call me religious.

I'd say if ever there were a need to believe in God it would be because we humans know that this unquenchable longing can not be satisfied by what we do, have, or accomplish. History has shown us that our deepest human desires can't be fulfilled by our own achievement. Time and again people "at the top" are the hardest to fall. They seemingly have everything and yet, they lose it all - and eventually, die like the rest of us. Have your actions, relationships, or possessions brought you perfect fulfillment yet? I'm guessing not.

We have to believe God exists. Without Him, we are utterly without hope of having our longings fulfilled. We already know we can't make it happen ourselves.

And I'd say that if ever there were a reason to believe that God can actually do it - can actually placate my (and your!) frenzied hunger - its because when I listen to great music - in that oh so small, fleeting moment, that's exactly what actually happens. I feel redeemed.

God exists because an unquenchable longing exists in our hearts that can't be satisfied by human activity - and we have to believe that this longing can be satisfied by something out of this world. And God is in fact able to do it because he gives us pieces of that satiety through music.

Do I think there's more to the story? Oh yeah. By grace, I'm trying to learn more of it every day.