Happy New Days

If you’re like me, you probably have already failed at your New Year’s resolutions.

Maybe you had resolved to eat better in 2014 but just couldn’t resist the leftover Christmas cookies. Maybe you were determined to exercise more but decided to sleep in on Friday instead. Or maybe, despite your desire to be diff erent, you still criticized a co-worker behind her back.

New Year’s resolutions can be powerful agents of lasting change in our lives. And they can also be reminders of how deeply ingrained some of our worst habits are.

But don’t go beating yourself up too much if, by Jan. 4, you’ve already failed.

You’re not alone.

Researchers from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania studied New Year’s resolutions and documented what most of us probably already knew: The majority of our new year commitments don’t last. It can take a few weeks or a few months, but given enough time, most of us will go back to do what we’ve always done.

Don’t get the impression that I am anti-New Year’s resolutions. Quite the opposite.

One of the greatest things about the turning of the calendar is the opportunity it gives us to turn over a new leaf. Jan. 1 is a fresh start. We can wipe the slate clean and attempt to reinvent ourselves.

It is a useful exercise to look back over the previous year, to recount what went well and what didn’t. It’s like when we were kids and measured ourselves against the door jam. We get to see how we’ve grown. Setting goals - as individuals and as families - can propel us into a better future.

There is an optimism in the air at the start of a new year that I just love.

It reminds me of when we first moved to Northwest Arkansas. For the previous five years, we had lived in central Michigan - an area of the country that had grown gray and dreary as the automotive industry in Detroit declined. Inthe small town where we lived, adults considered a job at a fast-food place to be a career. The culture of discouragement was palpable.

Then we moved to Northwest Arkansas and breathed in the fresh air of excitement and opportunity.

Who knows? Maybe you can turn your local fi veand-dime store into the largest retailer in the world.

Anything is possible in Northwest Arkansas.

And anything is possible at New Year’s.

I have been wishing lately we could have this same sense of optimism and opportunity, not just at the start of a new year, but with the start of each new day.

Like many people, one of my favorite passages in the Bible is Lamentations 3:22-23: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; God’s mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.”

God’s mercies are new every morning. Every day is a fresh start. Every day is a chance for me to reinvent myself. Every day is a clean slate. No matter what happened yesterday;

no matter what failures or successes I’ve had.

Because every day is a new opportunity to experience the mercy of God, every day is exhilarating.

“New” is such a powerful word.

Advertisers love to use the word “new.” Products that are “new and improved” tempt us the most. Television shows are said to be “all new” episodes - as if a program would ever be aired that was only half new.

We have a tendency to think new is more eff ective.

New is hopeful. New is better.

When it comes to God’s mercy, newness carries the idea of being undepleted. Today has as much mercy as yesterday did. My failures yesterday may have required me to experience the mercy of God, but they have not depleted the mercy of God at all. There is not less of it today than there was yesterday.

In other words, God’s compassion, love and faithfulness to me is not dependent on whether or not I meet my goals or if I messed up this day, this week or even this year. God’s mercy to me is available because of who God is not because of who I am.

Doesn’t that kind of perspective make you want to get out of bed every morning with excitement and enthusiasm? Isn’t that just as motivating as any resolution or goal?

And so, throughout this new year, let’s not forget to wish each other Happy New Days - every day.

ROBB RYERSE IS THE PASTOR OF VINTAGE FELLOWSHIP IN FAYETTEVILLE. HE IS ALSO THE AUTHOR OF “FUNDAMORPHOSIS: HOW I LEFT FUNDAMENTALISM BUT DIDN’T LOSE MY FAITH.” YOU CAN EMAIL HIM AT ROBB@ VINTAGEFELLOWSHIP.ORG.