Prayer

New Years Resolutions

Oh, it’s here…January of a new year. Time for a renew and refresh, yes? Roll up your
sleeves, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, put those problems to bed (insert your own
metaphor here). Tackle these problems once and for all this time. Make those
resolutions.
So how’s that working for you?
You know what January also brings? Quitter’s Day. The second Friday of January is the
day that marks 88% of people abandoning their resolutions. There are many reasons
cited for this: poor planning, unrealistic goals, all-or-nothing thinking, etc etc blah blah
blah. All those resolutions and reasons for quitting reside externally to us.
Here’s a reframe: what if those “problems” were actually solutions to the problems?
Huh…
Yes, the behaviors we all indulge in that don’t ultimately serve us well - are actually
coping strategies for some underlying issue.
Eric Butterworth wrote something that caught my attention here: “In the horizontal
experience of life, we are bound to reap what we have sowed, but we have a choice to
introduce into consciousness the vertical flow.”
So what if the problem you are trying to solve with the resolution (horizontal flow) is
actually a Spiritual (vertical flow) challenge? To solve this concern, it is time to delve into
your conscious mind. Get curious.
For me, the question is “When?” When do I reach for that beer or cookie? When do I
invoke a fight over something minor? When do feelings of road rage enter my conscious
mind? When do I lose patience with my (kids, spouse, friend)?
“When” is a soft landing to explore the “why,” which is the real spiritual question.
Excavating those answers require deeper consideration than required by a resolution. It
is a spiritual journey that needs nurturing through prayer, meditation,
contemplation…and… space and time. It requires shining a light in the darkness. And it
will take longer than the first two weeks in January.
Let’s go vertical!

- Prayer Chaplain Robin Tefft