Resolved!

So what is it about one time a year that seems to be the only time people feel the need to change? I know tradition has a lot to do with it. But that tradition started somewhere. I am just wondering because I have the same problem. I tell myself "This year "This year is the year I am going to lose weight." "This year I am going to work harder." "This year I am going to write more in my book." "This year I am going to…"

But rarely do I make any changes at New Year. I usually make changes slowly. Overtime it usually takes putting one step in front of the other. But I am not alone in this. This is usually how everyone changes. Slowly over time, like a snail crawling across a flower or congress trying to do anything.

And so I am bucking the system, it is February 5^th; it is not even February first so I am going to make a new resolution. I resolve to…um oh wait …well I need to lose weight, but that won't happen right away. Oh I need to make more money…but that isn't going to change overnight. I hate that all of the things I want to do take real commitment and work. And I am against work, what does work get you except pain and stress and oh yah success. And not doing work gets you pain and stress when you have grown to fat to move and you have no money to pay your bills.

You know that saying, "Everything worth doing is easy"? Oh yah because there isn't one. Why is that? Why does everything we do have to be hard to make it worthwhile? And I just thought of something.

Resolution! (Like King Arthur in the Once and Future King) If everything worth doing is hard, then everything not worth doing must be easy? I am not sure that statement holds true. I think back at some very easy things that caused me trouble later on, easy but poor choices I made. Not once did they make my life easier. In fact they created much more complication.

Resolution! If everything worth doing is hard, and everything easy to do is bad therefore making things hard. Then does everything that is hard and worthwhile become easy? Now I'm just confusing myself.

Resolution! This literary devise though useful to King Arthur is not helping me at all.

I guess what I'm really talking about is making changes, making changes for the better. Else why would people resolve to do anything? Is it bad to strive to be better even if it is only once a year? No, I can't see wanting to better yourself ever being a bad thing. However, unless followed up with some real work there is really nothing to it other than a yearly ritual.

Ritual that's an interesting word, what a good comparison (if I do say so myself), I am a Mormon, I grew up with certain rituals and rites, we call them ordinances. There are other religions and societies with other rituals and rites. All of them have a reason for doing them, and all of them I'm sure have followers who like me from time to time do the ritual for the ritual sake, but forget the real reason behind it.

In my last post I posted my ideas on faith and miracles. I have often heard and used the scripture, "Faith without works is dead" (paraphrased James 2:17) But works without faith can be the same thing. In fact it seems for me I have never been able to work without some kind of vision. I am sure I am not alone. There is a symbiotic relationship between these two principles, in fact a new word should be coined, Faiworks? Woraith? Riboflavin? (no that's in cereal). But maybe it is better to keep them separate so you are dealing with each part individually. No one would stand up and announce that they believe in something and turn around and not do it would they? I think I just described the entire political world. It is interesting that there is a word that comes strikingly close to what I am looking for, especially since another way to translate pistis the Greek biblical equivalent to faith is firmness. There is a word that means firmness to do something. Resolved!

Resolution! To create a goal and not follow through is not faith it is only a wish of a fleeting desire, but to set a goal and actively seek to accomplish that goal, is faith.

Resolved!