The time is upon us…it’s the season of New Year’s resolutions. Another opportunity to start fresh and recreate ourselves, but before we rush into the vast arena of resolution clichés (you all know them…quit smoking, eat healthy, loose weight, etc.) maybe we should take a moment and reflect on what area of life we really hope to grow in.

There is nothing wrong with resolving to get fit, but what if in addition to that we decided to push ourself to grow in other ways…more lasting ways?

What if we chose to focus the hopes of our future-selves on our spiritual life or family life? And what if instead of just making some obscure blanket statement that is destined to get lost in the cracks of our day-to-day lives we actually made a plan of how we could grow in such areas?

For example, instead of just stating that we are going to get healthy we could stand firm in our commitment to working out 2-3 times a week. Or instead of exclaiming that we want to grow in holiness, we could resolve to personal prayer for ten minutes a day or sign up to do a holy hour once a week. This gives us a measurable to goal in which we can mark our progress.

I’m all for New Year’s resolutions and I love the notion of a fresh start. That being said I think our resolutions should be meaningful, purposeful and attainable.

Instead of one single resolution for the year, I like to come up with a broader theme for the year and then create mini-goals I can put my focus towards each month.

One year my theme was to find balance. One month I spent focusing on developing my prayer life, another month I honed in on cultivating my friendships, and in another my energy was spent on eating healthier. Personally I’ve found that this approach helps me to stick with it as I can continue to evaluate my progress throughout the year and I have an easy mantra to refer back to.

What’s your 2015 focus and how do you plan to stick with it?

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