Making daily resolutions

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

 

IF we are to be guided by our Christian faith, we would know that our life here on earth is always a work in progress. It is like a journey we are taking toward our final destination which is to be with God in heaven and to be like him. God wants us to be his image and likeness, and our life here on earth is meant to train and to test us if what he wants us to be is also what we would want to be.

Since we are made to be like God who is love which is an expression of his freedom, we are supposed to correspond to God’s design and will for us with love also, which, of course, should be an expression of our freedom. God does not impose his will of love on us. We are expected to return his love with love, his freedom with our freedom.

With that basic consideration alone, we would already know that there are things that we need to do to correspond properly to God’s will of love and freedom for us. This need to correspond to God’s will is even made more serious and urgent given the fact that we have to contend with our wounded and sinful condition.

That is why we can never do away with our duty to make daily resolutions in order to satisfy this need. But, alas, are we even aware of this duty? If ever we have some plans to do something, they usually involve only our personal interests that hardly have any relation to God’s will for us. In fact, most of the time, these personal interests are at odds with God’s will.

We need to do something about this problem of ours. We have to see to it that we are clear about what the real and ultimate purpose of our life is and about how we can pursue it. It’s for this reason that we should develop the practice of making some resolutions at the end of each day to carry them out the following day.

The idea is for us to relate everything in our daily life to this real and ultimate purpose of our life. We need to have clear plans and strategies for this purpose so we would not get lost or confused in our daily grind. This is where daily resolutions are needed, since there will always be things to do, to improve, to change or correct, to keep them in line with our ultimate purpose in life.

All of this should be in line also with the ideal condition that at the end of the day, we should try our best to be reconciled with God and with everybody else, being at peace with them and keeping a faith-based joy in our heart. We should feel light. Nothing should weigh heavily in our heart as we go to bed, as long as we have made resolutions to address the things that we need to do, to improve, to correct or to make up.

This practice of making daily resolutions should be popularized as widely as possible. It should be made part of everyone’s lifestyle and of our culture. That way, we can be more consistent with our Christian faith. After all, with the 500 years of our Christianity, we should feel urged to be more serious with our Christian faith.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com