January, the time for resolutions, goal-setting and dreams of “crushing it” in the new year. I live with someone who refuses to make New Year’s resolutions and with good reason since statistics show fewer than 19 percent of people actually follow through with those good intentions. If you have made it past the 10th of January and are still going strong, you have surpassed the norm. Most have packed it in by that time according to a recent study.[i]
In spite of this discouraging data, I don’t believe we should give up on the idea of making resolutions and setting goals for the year. I am convinced we are all aware of our unrealized potential as humans and still have much to learn to improve our physical, emotional, spiritual and professional lives. Yet, for many of us, the thought of a list of goals and deadlines to meet feels like a ball and chain weighing us down and occasionally coming back to bash us in the shins. It can make us feel exhausted and worn out before the year even gets going.
While there is a place for setting targets and pursuing goals, perhaps this year something else is needed. Could it be that our lives require an infusion from a source outside of ourselves? After being battered and bloodied during the previous year, we need to lie down and receive life one drop at a time into our veins.
In reading the accounts of the life of Jesus in the Gospels, and considering his words, it is clear that he does not want us to live a life of continually “running on empty”. He regularly received infusions from his Father in order to continue to do the work he was called to. Jesus spent time alone talking to God the Father, he took time with his closest friends to rest, to recover from grief, and be rejuvenated. He, as God walking around in flesh, had a pattern for living that was healthy and sustaining which sets an example for those who seek to follow him.
In the words of Ann Voskamp, a great way to begin this refueling of our souls is to begin each day is with “word before world”. This means actively choosing to receive life from the words of God as recorded in the Scripture before we listen to the words of the news broadcast or our social media. The words in the Bible drip hope, love, rest and faith into our veins allowing us to live in the knowledge that someone bigger than us has everything under control. We can relax. This is in sharp contrast to the constant deluge of comparison, self-sufficiency and fear which pervades much of what the world offers.
This means choosing, first thing in the morning, to leave the phone alone until AFTER I have spent a few moments taking in the words designed to feed our souls. It may also require setting the alarm to ring a few minutes earlier each day. Start by reading a Psalm a day, or you could begin by reading the stories of Jesus in the New Testament. Try to imagine yourself as the one who was healed, the woman who had been shamed or the child who came home to the Father’s embrace. Perhaps your mornings begin with children clamouring for attention and little time for you to sit alone with your Bible. You could read to your kids from The Jesus Storybook Bible, giving all of you a dose of life, or have the You Version Bible app reading scripture to you while you pack lunches and hustle kids out the door. However you intake Scripture, pick out a phrase or idea that is meaningful to you and tuck it in your pocket to carry around with you for the remainder of the day.
Another life-giving practise for me has been intentionally spending time in silence while attempting to sit still. As a person who has, for most of my life, defined myself by what I produce, this time of complete rest has been difficult. It is a constant battle to stay in my chair and not pop up and do that one thing which just came into my mind. There is also the challenge of turning off the mind as it tries to return to my to-do list in an effort to make this time productive. I am finding it helpful to come back to the word “trust” in my mind as a reminder of the One who is in control and who is working even while I rest. “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone”, said philosopher Blaise Pascal, which makes me wonder how many of our problems could be addressed if we could learn this skill?
I attempt to do this every morning. I set a timer for 10 minutes or 5 if I’m running late, and I sit in a comfortable position in a chair, sometimes a cushion on the floor. The tricky part is to relax into the silence, and try to curb the desire to move. Breathe deeply, making your exhale longer than your inhale. As thoughts of “all the things” come into your mind, let them come and then allow them to drift away. Bring your attention to your breathing and maybe to a word you need to internalize such as trust or rest. Continue in this way for the allotted time. It may be helpful to start with 1 minute and work your way up. Again, if this seems completely unreachable in your present stage of life, perhaps you can begin practising silence in little sips rather than big gulps. As you are walking past your window, pause for a moment, look at the beauty outside, or ponder the plant gracing the corner of your room, take a moment to marvel at its intricately veined leaves. These small silences can build on one another and begin to work into your mind, body and soul.
I am seeing the benefits of these silent moments as my drivenness default is slowly being reset. I am finding these times to be a sifter of sorts, where the unimportant and self-focused things fall away leaving only that which is most important. Even though we have already become new creations in Christ, there is still the daily process of continually being made new. As we adopt postures which make us available to the work of God, we are given this new life, one drop at a time.
As we continue in the early days of this New Year, I would invite you to join with me on this journey to a more intentional intake of the things which bring us life. The self-help gurus tell us to create a plan, grab at everything that promises success, and white-knuckle our way through the year in order to get the results we desire. Or we can trust the Giver of life as he infuses us with all we need for this year. We can still set goals and have a list of tasks to accomplish but our focus has shifted from attempting to earn what we think we deserve, to leaning into our Father and trusting Him for the outcomes. Feel free to take a deep breath, the pressure is off.
”Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action.”
Dallas Willard
Resources: If you would like to learn more about these types of practices, I suggest listening to the Presence Project Podcast and going to the helpful Ignationspirituality.com website.
Read this reflection: https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/small-changes-for-a-big-year-choose-silence/
Images by: Alexa Williams, Marcelo Leal, Debby Hudson, Marcelo Leal,
[i] https://bestlifeonline.com/people-sticking-to-new-years-resolutions/.