I was having my coffee this morning and watching the news and on the TV was video of the massive fireworks display in Sydney Australia for their spectacular New Years celebration. And so it begins I thought, the annual global celebration to kick off the new year. Another year passes and time inevitably marches onward. With the turning of the pages of time comes new hope, new beginnings, new resolutions, new ideas and ambitions. Most of us eagerly set aside the past year as we rededicate ourselves to all sorts of ambitious pursuits and personal achievements. I always thought that I would like to be a Nutrisystem salesperson at the end of every year. This way I would rake in the cash promising to remake the physical landscape of people across America in the new year into the next Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie just by eating over priced, poorly made and packaged food. Or better yet to come up with the latest get rich quick scheme to add wealth and happiness to millions of struggling people. Or, invent the ultimate cheesy household doitall gadget and have an over the top infomercial that will give you not double but triple the order for the same price if you call in the next ten minutes! Why, I should just wait till the end of every year to unleash my grand schemes and ideas on the many unhappy and unsatisfied masses of the world so I can promise them stardust and moonbeams and deliver them real life and day to day struggles instead. Wow, what a bubble buster Rick! What's up with that you say? Where's the eternal optimism and eagerness to conquer the future? Relax folks, it's still there, I'm just making a point.
First of all, you all know that every new year we tend to set these lofty goals for ourselves promising to be different, or better or more beautiful or successful. Only to find that often times by spring or even earlier we are jolted back into our daily realities or are frustrated by the uneven success of our plans. We have too many demands or obligations to focus on the complete overhaul we had designed for our personal rejuvenation. In doing so we consider most of our resolutions an abject failure. I believe this creates an internal atmosphere of disappointment in us that then manifests itself in our outward disposition. Pretty Freudian you say? Let me get back to being me then. What I really mean is that if we want to be better, more happy, more successful and ebullient people we should try making resolutions that we can keep and succeed at. So I've got a sure fire way of doing this and I'm going to borrow it from a very dear friend of mine, Jesus. I will paraphrase this for you. Jesus was invited to dinner with a Pharisee who was a priest of the law and temple. When Jesus went in and sat down at the table right away without washing his hands the Pharisee was taken aback and asked the Lord a question. Jesus sensing displeasure in His host offered a perfect explanation and stinging rebuke in the same sentence. It goes like this in His exact words, Luke 11 vs. 39-41, Then the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. So there it is, simple in it's method, patently successful and utterly timeless. Not old, not new either just right. If you and I want to make a noticeable improvement in 2012 and actually have a resolution that we accomplish in all we do and say then all we need to do is a little interior housecleaning. What comes out will transform your lives for the better and those around you too. And so it is with you. God Bless You and Happy New Year!
Luke 11:37-44
[37] When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. [38] But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised.
[39] Then the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. [40] You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? [41] But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.
[42] "Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.
[43] "Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
[44] "Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it."
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