We are two weeks into this still New Year of 2025. How is this New Year going?  Did you make any resolutions? If you did and are still keeping them, congratulations! You have kept them past “Quitters Day”, the second Friday of January.  

The turning of the calendar from one year to the next carries with it a myriad of thoughts, hopes and emotions. If we take the opportunity to look back and reflect upon the past twelve months, we can see the challenges and the joys during that time. We have made our way through each of these during 2024. We still carry some of them as we enter 2025. Perhaps it is the glow of the Christmas season that lingers for you. Or we may continue to be burdened with grief or frustration. Life does not always follow a calendar.  

A new year brings with it a sense of hope and possibility, the sense that things will be “better” than they were. This is not always true, but we are usually imbued with optimism. We have before us a blank slate, with the power to write our story upon it.  

We make resolutions meant to enhance ourselves or our lives. We work to exert control over what we can, even sometimes what we can’t. We are given the next day, week or year to do something with. So, what will it be?  

We can look at supporting our own health efforts in the areas of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. You know this list, which can include: eating well, getting enough sleep, being around others, being of service, paying attention to the divine within your life.  

This annual time of reflection also calls us beyond ourselves to examine what is key and important. This is an opportunity to rededicate our lives to God and care for others. The Gospel writers say the greatest commandment is this, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 

This may be the simplest and most life-changing resolution possible. Notice, I said “simple”, not “easy”. When we fail, which we will, we experience the grace and love of God who beckons us to try again. This is not a mere resolution. It is a way of life which God invites us into each and every day, no matter where we are within the calendar.  

Continue Having a Blessed New Year.

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. John Tabaka is pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Monroe.