A [Non] Resolution

First, I should tell you, I don't make resolutions. Especially the new year variety. It's been my experience that resolutions wind up getting broken within the first week, or, at the very latest, within a month. So I figure, why bother?

These last few days, however, I've been taking inventory, stock; looking back over the last year and assessing what needs to be different.

Here's what my self examination turned up: I have this bad habit of using society as a measuring stick for, well, pretty much everything. Society has a way of dictating what is successful: do I drive the right car, have the right house, wear the right clothes, work at the right job? And we won't even discuss how society drives self-image: am I thin enough? Pretty enough? THIN ENOUGH?

I know many of you are aware that I've been working pretty hard over the last three months to get fit. Please know that this is more about being healthy, less about conforming to society's standards. But I'd be lying if I said that I have never been caught up in the madness of trying to "keep up with the Joneses." And it is definitely madness.

Therefore, this year, I have decided to stop seeing myself in relation to others, but rather, see myself in relation to God. After all, He created me in HIS image. If you stop to think about it, that's pretty powerful.

And because self-image seems to drive so much in our lives, my new measure of what I want to look like will be driven by the words of 1 Peter 3:3-4:

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

I don't want to make this a resolution though. Kind of like the whole getting fit thing, it's not something I'm going to do until I reach my goals and then stop. It has to be a whole lifestyle change. Or, in the case of my [non]resolution, a whole change of thinking, feeling, being.

Please know, this doesn't mean I will donning a sack cloth or anything drastic like that. What it does mean is that I will try less to conform to society's standards, and work harder at pleasing God. After all, when you stop to think about it, He's the only one that really matters.

Happy new year and here's to good [physical, mental and spiritual] health!