Resolution report

My father was big on new year’s resolutions. His birthday was also January 1, so for him it was really setting his next year’s agenda.

He was also big on personal examination. My first Sunday home from my mission, Dad spoke in our ward’s conference about the value of taking a personal inventory from time to time to determine how we are measuring up against what the Lord would have us do. (He’d just spent a few years with my mom in West Africa on a work assignment, far away from the organized church, so he’d had plenty of time for his own introspection.)

Last year I didn’t set too many resolutions, but one was almost cliché: I wanted to lose weight.

I’m happy to report that I succeeded. I dropped about sixty pounds in the first half of the year and managed to keep it off (even through this most recent holiday season).

I have not yet written resolutions for this year, but I have a few mulling about my head.

A friend suggested that since I’ve increased my exercise regimen as part of my weight loss / maintenance program that I should put a race or two on my calendar for this year. (Did I mention I hate running? My exercise is usually on my elliptical machine or my Nordic Track skier. But while on business in November of last year, I discovered I could run about 5K a day without dire consequences.)

Of course there are repeating ideas around improving my scripture and gospel study, and I’m thinking carefully about that idea. I’m especially trying to think about ways to enhance my gospel study, particularly in this year of church history in Sunday School.

I’ve also begun to feel more yearning to do family history. This happens from time to time with me, and not just when there’s a youth temple trip on the horizon. But I have some sticky problems with a few of my lines that tend to bog me down until I collapse whimpering in the corner. Maybe this is the year I move past the sticky lines to something else.

Happy to hear your thoughts about resolutions (and any suggestions you may have).

By the way, you can read my New Year's post on testimony at Real Intent here.

It is resolved

My father was born on New Year's Day. I associate my memories of New Years with him because of his birthday, but also because of New Years Resolutions. I can remember trying to write down resolutions – goals for the year – at his urging when I was a kid. And now, even though my father has been gone for several years, I still think of him and resolutions when New Year's Day comes around.

Dad was a firm believer in self-improvement. He was well-read, not because of his formal training (he was an exceptionally average engineering student in college, but he had a fine career including professional recognition in his field), but because he enjoyed learning. There were many family dinners during which one of us kids was sent looking for the encyclopedia to prove (or disprove) some point of discussion at the table.

Dad sought to instill in us a desire to reach higher, to do more than we thought we could do. His example, together with my mother's, seemed to suggest we really could do anything we set our minds to. I remember talking to him as I graduated high school about what I would study at college. I was a little worried to suggest that I would study theatre, thinking it would be too artsy for his very practical view of life. He surprised me when he thought for a moment and said, "Whatever you study, if you're the best you'll always work."

Dad loved New Year's resolutions, and he encouraged us to write them. Goals for the year. Short statements of what we would seek to improve or build upon in the new year. Chart a course. Lay out a roadmap. Make a plan.

I spent many years of my life as a compulsive planner. Before we married, I wrote budget after budget demonstrating that we could not afford to marry while my wife said, "Let's see – we live separately now for more than it would cost us to get married and live together. What's not to work?" I planned my children's futures. I planned my own career (many times as I kept changing horse mid-stream during college).

Several years ago circumstances combined to help me take a shorter term view, to focus less on the future and more on today, to live in the moment, even one day at a time. And in the intervening years, I've been learning to balance prudent long-term thinking against the value of living today for today.

So not all my resolutions will be for a year. Some will be for a day. And I'll make them each day. And some will help me strike that balance between one day at a time and prudent long-term thinking. But they'll still remind me of my dad.

The New Year's Resolution

This past Sunday I was asked at the last minute to fill in for our full time missionaries who had been asked to teach the Elders Quorum about goals (one of our missionaries had fallen ill and had no business being at church). I did teach the class but ended up heading in a very different direction than the missionaries had intended.

As we talked about goals, I suggested that goals are generally linked with repentance, since goals are often intended to help us where improvement is required. I then linked our ability to improve to the atonement of Jesus Christ, since it is that atonement which enables us to repent.

The Book of Mormon includes an account of a famous vision to the prophet Lehi – the vision of the Tree of Life. We learn that the tree bears a most wonderful fruit, which represents the Love of God. Between the prophet Lehi (with his family) and the tree is a rod of iron that serves as a railing along the straight and narrow path that leads to the tree. If one holds to the rod, he’ll arrive at the tree. Along the way is a mist of darkness, making passage without holding onto the rod difficult, and many who let go are lost.

We discussed what happens when we get lost. One of the class members is an expert outdoorsman. He said when we’re lost in the woods, first we yell for help. And second, we stop. I would have assumed that one ought to reverse the order (stop first, yell second), but I’m not going to quibble. The point is that when we’re in trouble, we need to stop doing whatever it is we’re doing wrong, and then get help to find our way home. Getting back to the rod usually means turning around, and that’s what repentance is all about – turning ourselves back to the Lord. As we call out for help, we might call on the Lord in prayer, seek His counsel in the scriptures, or go to His trusted servants for counsel and advice. That help might come from a well meaning friend or spouse, or even a child who reminds us that we need to walk a different path.

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions – perhaps because my dad always made us write them. But I am a huge fan of repentance, and of goals the help me return to the right path when I stray.

- Paul