Jonathan Edwards, the great 18th century reformer, made 70 lifetime resolutions that he read to himself once a week. You can read them here by clicking on this link below:
Sitting on the couch with my family last night waiting for the new year to ring in, we all sort of joked around about New Years resolutions we might make. With tongue in cheek I said, "I want to be a better person." Victoria said, "I'll never sin again." We laughed and thought about what weenies we are compared to men like Jonathan Edwards. For example, he "Resolved, to think on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death." And he "Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom, and of hell." I think we all went to bed that night (morning) without any real serious resolutions at all.
But this morning I took the girls out for a walk and to play in the park. On the way, Poppy looked up at me and said, "Dad, don't text anybody while we're together, O. K.?" Hummm, now there's a good New Year's resolution, not to be distracted in our hyper-connective and multi-tasking world at the expense of another. It's so easy, so tempting to grab the Blackberry out of my holster and see what's going on, as if nothing else in the world could wait or matters in that moment. And my little girl Poppy convicted me that even though I may be with her, she doesn't feel I'm with her when I do that. So, I thought to myself and prayed to God that from now on I want to resolve to keep my communication devices incognito until I am in a place where others will not feel cheated or uncared for because I'm focused on cyber-connectedness. Francis Chan, in his recent book "Forgotten God" states that one of the reasons we don't sense closeness to our Lord and the Spirt (and others for that matter) is because the volume in our lives is too loud. Not a terribly revelational thought, but an illuminating reminder that the busyness of my life has drawn me away from Jesus, and also those I love most.
So, simply put, thanks to Poppy, I am "Resolved to stay in the moment with the Spirit and others, resisting the temptation to think inward by outward distractions." Xie xie, Poppy!
Xin Nian Kuai Le! (Happy New Year!)
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