NEW YEAR’S

RESOLUTIONS

Lord, I know New Year’s Resolutions rarely last,
but I also know it’s good to make them.

Sometimes one of them sticks;
sometimes one of them really makes it.

So this year I resolve to begin and end each day
with a prayer: “Thank you, Lord, for the gift of another day.”

This year I resolve:
to taste what I eat,
especially breakfast;
to walk more than I sit;
to listen more than I talk;
to read more than I watch TV;
to let the small things slide
and the big things be confronted;
to sing more in church and in the shower;
to allow for more mystery
and more laughter in my life;
to be compassionate rather than competitive,
allowing myself more second place finishes,
to enjoy the look in the eye of the person
who comes in first -- especially my kids;
to walk more by faith than by fear;
to make opportunities happen
more than to wait for them to happen;
to eat salads and fruits
more than chips and sweets;
to communicate more than to quarrel;
to get second opinions on my judgments;
to live in the present moment
enjoying one day at a time,
instead of being stuck in the past
or hiding out in the future;
and to live up to at least one of these resolutions.

© Andrew Costello, Markings