November 19, 2025 I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. I’m generally not the kind of person who can set some arbitrary date for change and actually make the change. I need to feel inspired – called, even – to a change if it’s going to have even the slightest chance at being long-term or permanent. I also strongly dislike winter, and I generally have zero desire to make it any harder than it already is. I understand the impulse, though. A new year feels like a new start – a fresh beginning. That seems like a great time to begin a new challenge or try to work on a “new you.” So why am I thinking about New Year’s resolutions when it’s not even Thanksgiving? The new liturgical year starts on the first Sunday of Advent. This year, that falls on Nov. 30. It’s less than two weeks away. As I was considering that fact and marveling at how fast this year went by, it struck me: while lots of people celebrate a new year by choosing to impose some drastic change – a new exercise routine, a new diet, a new habit of going to bed early or taking an hour of silence each day – on themselves, our Church starts its new year with a season focused on waiting. While I’m fairly sure there are patient people in this world, I’m also sure I’m not one of them. Frankly, I don’t know anyone who enjoys standing in a long line at the grocery store or sitting for a long time in a medical office waiting room. But waiting is part of life, and it’s most certainly part of faith. God works according to His plan and on His timing. He does not work according to my plan or timeline (oh, how I wish He would). While the world celebrates a new year with people trying to work on what they think they need, God and His Church start their new year having us work on what they know we need – to wait for our savior and to let Him do the work of saving us. That’s the best resolution of them all. |
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