“What came to be through him was life, and this life was
the light of the human race.” – Jn 1:4
New
Year’s resolutions are problematic. Too often, they are more life draining rather
than life giving. They have led me to more dead ends than to vistas of hope or
avenues of growth. When I have failed to keep these resolutions, I fall prey to
the tyranny of the should’s and beat myself up. When I have been good at keeping
them, I easily become self-sufficient and prideful, which gives birth to other
vices. I am not alone in this.
These
promises of self-improvement seldom work because often they are more self-directed
and Me-focused. They are about what I want to do, what I’d like to see happen,
powered by a more ego-driven dynamic. They do not stem from a greater, higher,
or transcendent power.
Yet,
the Christmas miracle of the “Word became flesh and makes his dwelling among
us” reveals another dynamic. There is a river of grace that runs deep through
each of our lives. When we choose to flow with this stream of greater Force,
God, Spirit, or Source, more life comes about. Greater life emerges, gradually,
slowly, yet decisively. It’s simple and yet elusive. It’s not about me, what I
think is best. It’s about responding to greater life. Life that comes in the
smallness of a poor, Jewish baby two millennium ago. Life that is already within
me, in my present circumstances, both positive and negative, waiting to burst
open.
How
might I let this shift guide me? Pausing to notice what has been consistently
life giving in the past year may help. Asking God, “How are you inviting me to
greater life?” and really listening without an agenda may help. Adopting a
prayerful reflection process (like this one) may
help.
Whether we adopt a New Year’s resolution or not, each of
us has the opportunity at this threshold of another year to ask prayerfully: I
am open to greater life? What is my response?
nowadays society spiritually desolate! I think that there is nothing true and divine
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