A Passionate Resolve

In spite of the bleak and often dismal backdrop of winter, the start of a new year always brings with it the promise and freshness of a new beginning-a hope for something better than what we have been or experienced before.

Resolutions are made. Or resisted. Sometimes making a resolution can doom an intention to failure, right from the start! How many have been made only to be broken before winter’s end?

A resolution can seem like self-imposed torture as a way of motivating myself to be what I ought to be, but have not been. The die- in diet. The ex- in exercise.

But there is something to be said for resolve. A choice of the will to make a change, for the better.

And to mean it.

Personally, I would love to be governed solely by purity of heart and mind: divinely focused passions that motivate richly intense and fulfilling experiences of love at every level of my relationships. A life overflowing with the goodness and grace of God, guided by wisdom and godly choices.

I fail so often at this, I wonder ever to strive at all for something so out of reach of my humanity. And yet…the hunger and longing for living spiritually in the everyday dramas continues. And tastes of such an indescribable life stir my appetite for more.

Oddly, the bleakness of winter is the best time of all for change. Leaves and foliage all stripped away, my naked backyard is exposed for critical scrutiny. With the removal of Christmas décor, the interior of my house seems stark and bare. Similarly, after all the frenzy of the holidays, my quieted life (however briefly this lasts) lays open and undressed awaiting the garment of a new life, new pursuits. Or resuming the old ones.

And so, I resolve to put on a new garment:

I resolve… to feed the hunger and fuel the passion that moves me in this spiritual pursuit.
I resolve… to nurture my spirit, as I have my mind.
…To tend the garden of my heart with great care and intention.
…To be open to more possibilities.
…To not miss the moment in today while I plan for tomorrow.
…To look in the eyes of another and see the uniqueness of that one immortal soul.