and there.  When I was thinking I was all alone, a ray of hope! It seems we romantics are -far- from alone, atleast not among the friends of TTF. 

Speaking of hope, did someone cite “hope defered” in defense of something that is famous for yielding defered hopes?  (I glanced thru, maybe I missed something.) I believe in try try again as much as the next guy, but a recent article I read somewhere reminded me about the wisdom in good expectations.  And, since we can expect gusto mustered by newyear-novelty to wear, then we better base our hopes in more than that.

For what it’s worth, my experience is full of (4) :) kept NY’s resolutions. I believe in them.

Let’s also not forget that it was God who made years and seasons (Gen 1)! There is something about a fresh start that does encourage people to have a look inside and get courage to make decisions to adjust their lives. God’s mercies are new every morning, and every new year it is another fresh start. As Christians we can take advantage of that.

I see the author is taking a lot of flack, probably unexpectedly. I agree that no calendar date has any magic power. I find value in New Year’s Day rolling around simply as a reminder that time is running out, and I might do well to take stock once again. This usually takes the form of glancing back over my journal entries for the past year, rather than making any list of resolutions. For me, the time to make a resolution is right when the need for change on an issue asserts itself.

The cynic is often right but never breaks out of mediocrity. Your article is highly disappointing for a Christian Website. Change comes through desire and decision to adjust after revelation of a preferred future. By God’s grace our decisions are not in vain, as sanctification is worked out in our lives. If the world adopted your cynical attitude, there would be no progress. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but where there is lack of vision (or hope) the people perish.

The piece on new years resolutions was rather uncharacteristically negative & unconstructive for ttf. One of the things that I love about TTF is that it is inspiring, hopeful, thoughtful & constructive. I felt very dispirited having read about the hopelessness of new years resolutions. Not only is it a statement of the bleedin’ obvious, but the interesting bit is how one can affect lasting behavior change … I was very disappointed that this piece was a statement of the obvious which never got to the interesting part of the topic …

Aikman may also want to take issue with Jonathan Edwards for his famous “Resolutions,” about which he expressed a similar frustration in his inability to keep them. Christians are easily tempted to cynicism about our sinful nature which continually befalls us, thus the seeming “folly” of New Year’s Resolutions. But we are called to hope, not despair, about the human condition.  There is more folly in giving in to our sinful desires than in striving against them.

I find it interesting that many today lack the convictions and integrity to carry out wise decisions of obedience. We are told to let our yes, be yes, and our no’s, be no’s. New Years resolutions are hardly a substitute for a life of disciplined examination through prayer and study that has the possibility of bringing about a character of integrity that can stand firm in ones convictions. As fallen people we need far more to hope in than the change of the calendar. We need lives changed through a deep abiding relationship of hope in a Father who sent His Son to lift us up to a place we can not attain by our own power. It is through Him that we learn, grow, and reach goals beyond our imaginations. Last year He taught me how to love a small black church in Sabine Pass, Tx, which had been destroyed by Hurricane Rita. He taught me how to serve them, encourage them and know that in Him we can be more than we will ever realize in the hearts of others. We are made new and fresh. Last year, another broken resolution would have broken my heart, but serving this small church in obedience to God made my tired 50 year old heart “run with the horses”, Jer.12:5.

2006 was thrilling and I’m sure through daily obedience 2007 will be amazing also. Thank you.

The underlying concept of this statement is not only fallacious but demeaning and counterproductive as well.

High aspirations are noble and constructive and should be encouraged; and if we have failed to achieve them in the past, the answer is not to abandon them but to try harder in the future.

“Man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a Heaven for ?” is a more enabling concept than Dr. Johnson’s.

P.S.  Let’s all keep trying, not only to lose weight and to exercise more, but to become better people and to lead more fulfilling and productive lives as well!

After surviving, by no real choice of my own, 3 dreadful years of obtaining a divorce and negotiating a nasty custody battle, hope was the subject of my annual Christmas letter.  No doubt New Year’s Resolutions (aka hope) are symptomatic of our culture’s Christmas/holiday bipolar syndrome - manic highs and depressed lows. As a lifelong realist I have always been fascinated with those whose hope springs eternal while mine requires my nailing my faith to the nearest wall yet again.  I wish hope were more natural to me.  But in looking for a new recipe for hope for my life, I came up with what I believe to be some key ingredients.  The first being fantasy. The human condition requires large doses of fantasy or fairy tale. G.K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy equates this desire and innate tendency with God and proof of His existence. The second ingredient no doubt is love, but I’m afraid there’s little of the pure stuff left and it is hard to find. And the 3rd ingredient I’ve identified is bucketfuls of wait. As I understand it, the Latin word for hope is the same as to wait. In my experience most of my hope is just that, waiting.  Waiting is as boring as flour, but so essential.  And from somewhere within me I have chosen to believe that Hope is the womb that bears Salvation, and her child is named Compassion.  As such New Year’s Resolutions, although folly, are still good and evidence of it.

For thirty years on New Years’ day I have made a list of goals for the year. Yes, I have not always met them. But looking back I am amazed at how many I did meet, and further I am amazed by some goals that no longer seem relevant or important.  I think the exercise of “goal-setting” is important personally, just as it is in business. My wife and I have gone to a number of marriage retreats. Did we put into practice everything? Of course not. But the exercise of reflection and ‘trying to do better’ is very important and useful, I believe.

Note Hebrews 11:1