Making Time for God is the Best Resolution

As we move from one year to the next, our minds turn to that inevitable question: What do I want to make of this year to come? We reflect on goals for ourselves and our family, self-improvement plans and, of course, resolutions. What would January 1 be without them?

I heard one guy say he already dreads the New Year. He reflected, "The holidays aren't quite over and already I'm about 90 days ahead on my calories and 90 days behind on my bills."

All of these thoughts are quite arbitrary of course. Our calendar did not come down from above. It is a human invention. There is no real reason why one day on the calendar should bear more significance than any other day of the year.

Yet still we infuse the changing of the year with a great deal of meaning. It is a time of hope, of anticipation, of "vision-casting," to use a business buzzword. Ready or not, the time for resolutions is upon us.

Why do we bother to make New Year's resolutions? Why do we feel this need each year to set new goals? Maybe it is because resolutions help us to identify our priorities. They answer the question: how do I want to invest my time, energy, money, and talents in this New Year?

The New Year also reminds us that time is passing. It is up to each of us to maximize the potential of every moment. As author Henri Nouwen says, "We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each moment as a moment pregnant with new life."

To be honest, I'm grateful for a new beginning. This past year was not the easiest of years. I am hoping and praying that we will now determine as a nation to protect our children and work towards a less violent society, to more effectively help those who struggle with food and housing insecurity, mental illness, and a host of other problems, and to deepen our desire to spend our time on what matters most in life, rather than waste our time on the trivial.

"Be careful how you live," advises Paul in Ephesians, "not as unwise people, but as wise, making the most of your time." At one level, that is not hard wisdom to heed. We keep busy and move fast, cramming all we can into every day. Afraid to waste time, we fill time, use time, make time. If only we could stop time. But we can't, so we keep moving, faster and faster, breathlessly pursuing...what? What was it that we wanted when we jumped on this treadmill of hyperactivity?

When Erma Bombeck was facing the end of her time on earth, she wrote a column titled, "If I Had My Life to Live Over." Part of it reads: "There would always have been more I love you's, more I'm sorry's, but mostly I would seize every minute, look at it and really see it, live it, and never give it back."

Making the most of your time means living fully in your time, whatever that time is and whatever that time may bring.

Ephesians gives us a helpful reminder about how to get the most out of our lives: "Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Wisdom comes from taking the time to be with God. Getting off the merry-go-round of obsessing long enough to be open to God. To recognize, for instance, that right here, in this moment, amid everything we have to do this day or this week, God is present.

We make the most of our time, in other words, by keeping time with God.

So, what will be your priorities this year? How will you spend your time? Taking some moments to reflect on those questions will lay the groundwork for a meaningful year, no matter what may come your way. I wish you blessings in 2025.

Grace and Peace be yours,  
Pastor Roy

P.S. Click the picture or link below to read the full January 2025 edition of The Beacon. 

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