YOUR MONDAY

MORNING MEDITATION

BY REV. DR. J. EMMETTE WEIR

"We all need the Lord!"

Our Scripture reading on this first Mon-day morning of this New Year consists of two texts from the Epistles of St. Paul:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come."

(II Corinthians 5:17, NIV)

"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me."

(Philippians 4:13, RSV)

How many of your New Year's resolutions have you broken – already?

Perhaps you may wonder why I ask you this question so early in this brand-new year! Indeed, lest you consider it rather presumptuous of me to put this question to you, at this time, let me share with you my own experience!

As a boy growing up in Nassau, I, like many of my generation, came deeply under the influence of a wise aunt, whom we all respectfully called, "Aunt Lily." Now, Aunt Lily (whom I mention also in the book Obama in Prophecy) was a lady of principle. And one of her principles was that the making of New Year's resolutions was of utmost importance for the character development, especially of young people.

And so she would instruct us, as the year drew to a close, to draw up a set of resolutions to guide us during the New Year.

So, in deference to her instruction, I would dutifully draw up a list of New Year's resolutions at the very beginning of the New Year, often after the Watch Night Ser-vice. Usually, these lists were long, consisting of as many as 20 resolutions.

Yes, I resolved to "turn over a new leaf" based on sticking to all these resolutions.

Well, needless to say, it was not long before I had broken some of these resolutions, and by the end of the month or two, I had broken most of them! Imagine how frustrated I was when I found that I had not "lived up" to the ambitious program of resolutions made at the dawn of the New Year or before!

Since that time I have learned much. The old folks used to say, "We should learn from our mistakes, or we are bound to repeat them." In retrospect, I do realize that I have learned from the mistakes of those formative years of my life. And, now having reached the status of being a senior citizen, I would like to share with you three suggestions to enable you to make effective New Year's resolutions.

First, it is best to just make a few resolutions rather than compiling a long list of them. Yes, looking back over the years, I now realize that I was too ambitious.

If you want to be successful in dealing with resolutions, then just deal with a few things that you would like to change in your life. Just list one or two of the bad habits that you would like to eliminate. Or think of a few good things that you would like to do for others. Yes, set just a few goals as you begin a new year.

The second follows quite logically – be consistent. It is much easier to be consistent when dealing with just a few traits rather than a long list of them. It is best to take "one step at a time" and to be diligent and consistent in dealing with them, and you will find that if you are successful in dealing with one of them, then you will encouraged to deal with the others. As it is said of temptation, "Each victory will help you some other to win!"

Thirdly, and most importantly, you must realize that, in the final analysis, you cannot deal effectively with the making of New Year's resolutions or, indeed, any other moral endeavour "on your own." You are in need of the grace of God. As Christ the Master put it, "I am the vine; ye are the branches. Apart from me; ye can do nothing." (John 15:8)

You see, we shall always be making all kinds of resolutions, all manifestations of endeavours to do better, only to break these resolutions again and again. Indeed, we can become more and more frustrated as we resolve to do better only to lapse into undesirable behaviour again.

There is only one way out of this vicious cycle. We have to come to the realization that we cannot do better without Christ. We have to come to the point of realizing that we must depend upon him to enable us to become what he would like us to be. This is the burden of St. Paul's admonition to the Corinthians, who were divided and "engaged in rows about authority," "therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old has gone, the new has come."

But that is not all; in order to continue in this new life, we must remain in constant communion with the Living Christ. This is the message of our second text, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." We realize that it is only as we trust Christ that we are able to remain on the way that leads to eternal life.

In a previous meditation, I pointed out that "Tiger" Woods needs the Lord. There has been great response to it, with most persons agreeing that "TIGER NEEDS THE LORD." But, it is not enough for us to assert, perhaps with a bit of false self-confidence, to suggest that the world's greatest golfer needs the Lord. Rather, as we begin this New Year, with its challenges and its uncertainties, we have to realize, in a sense most profound that "WE ALL NEED THE LORD!"

It is appropriate, then, as we begin this New Year, that we ponder these texts from St. Paul that are most inspiring.