TOROK: New Year’s Resolutions, exciting opportunities for newness

As we approach the calendar new year, I am reminded of how New Year’s Eve 2021 was filled with so much hope that our community, state, nation and world would rebound from the pandemic and become healthy and prosperous again. With 2023 approaching, one may be asking oneself: What will the new year bring? What do I want for the new year? What new year’s resolution will bring a positive change for myself and for my family?

Making a good resolution might profit from a good thought process.

Perhaps I might recall what my experience of life was over that past year and consider what I did that was good or how do I want to improve or grow in the coming year. Will my resolution make a positive impact on my family or others?

Choosing a realistic resolution and having someone to help with accountability on this journey can help one keep faithful to the resolution. Calling on God’s help through prayer will certainly strengthen one’s ability to keep this resolution. “13 I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me.” (Phil 4:13 NABRE).

Sharing resolutions with family members might excite everyone to take on a challenge or resolution of growth. Resolutions will likely vary for each individual in the family, i.e., parent, child, grandparent, etc. A common resolution is to work toward good health with diet and exercise. Others may resolve to manage their finances more efficiently. A young person might resolve to work harder at school or to sharpen a skill or talent they may have. I have heard young people say their new year’s resolution is to be more faithful or to find more time for prayer. This is exciting because it brings hope to families and the community when young people exude goodness.

A family might opt to choose one resolution for the whole family. A family resolution would certainly bring grace and gift to familial relationships. Some resolutions, such as having meals together, praying together or making more time to sit and talk together, would be simple but prove very rich for family life. Whether we make individual or family resolutions, whether we keep the resolution for a month or for a year, we would do well to celebrate our successes, individually and in family. Let us not forget to celebrate those successes with God and give him the glory for giving us His grace to continue our journey of growth.

This is an exciting time of year, a chance for newness. It is an opportunity to share our desire to seek good with family and community. A resolution to better oneself is essentially an offering to God, a step into the call to holiness. Accordingly, Christ will make us new in ways we cannot fathom.

Let us rejoice in Christ’s light shining the way for us into 2023. Happy New Year!

Norma Torok is a retired associate director of the Office of Adolescent Catechesis and Evangelization.

(Photo by Annie Spratt/Unsplash)