Part 1-New Year Resolution

Shalom Aleichem, my beloved readers. May God bless you with all the best. For my past articles, they are published on my?LinkedIn, you can also check my profile there. Let's open the New Year 2022 with three parts articles.

Have you done the new year resolution? This year I will finish that, I will take up sports, I will travel, I will be more disciplined, and so on. Usually, it starts with I. Have you ever do a new year resolution for others? Or for God? Instead of what I want, what He wants me to do, or what God wants for me?

Have you ever thought of it? New year or birthday contemplation of what did God want me to do for Him? Or what God wants from me in the context of giving a good thing, or giving a gift for our loved one. Many ask God, "What do You want from me?" In a bad way. Only when they hit a wall, a serious problem. Give me a break God, my life is hard enough, what do you want from me? Have we ever given thanks in good times? Thank you, God, today is nice, the sky is clear, last year was ok. Yes, things got rougher but I still came out ok, at least I am still healthy and alive. What can I give you as thanks, Lord? What do you wish me to do for you?

Let us go back to the time Jesus was crucified and risen from death. He has risen with a new body, holy, just like Adam and Eve originally created according to the image of God. Let us use this new year as the time we rose from our old self and become a new person. Reborn and become new. Dump the old bad habit and start a new, better, healthy, happy, closer to God.

Interestingly, God wishes all the best for us that usually collide with what is good and what we always wish to do but fail to do so. God wishes us to be healthy and happy, thus we do need to watch our diet and exercise regularly, pray and read the Bible to feed our soul, heart, and mind, and so on. Most of us know what is good for us, but why do we seemingly often fail to commit to our new year resolution to be better? Because we tolerate evil.

There is a story about how Saul, the first king of Israel, was tasked to annihilate the Amalekites but he failed to do so

1Sa 15:9?But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.?

When we deal with our weaknesses, our sins, we tend to let some survive. A stash, just a small stash for an emergency, so I can take a sip when things get rough. Or just a peek at the porn site. I need my phone so I will keep it, knowing full well you get adrift and distracted easily with it. To make changes, we have to be strict. Never compromise with evil.

1Sa 15:33?And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.?

Samuel did not spare even one enemy of Israel. He did just as the Lord commanded, so must we if we want to improve ourselves. Never procrastinate, just do it, even with the utmost dread, just do it so we could kick that procrastination away for good. So we could actually stay on track with our goals, our dreams, our plans, whether it is going for a walk or more prayer time. It all comes down to discipline and no compromise.

What good is it if a husband said to their spouse that he loves her so he is faithful to her 90% of the time? So there is this 10% time when he is committing adultery? Is this loyal? It must be 100% or it does not mean anything.

Fight all evil and hack every temptation to pieces, just like Samuel did to king Agag. No excuse. Fight our Amalekites, hack it to pieces. Use the liturgy to bring down the walls of Jericho. The Israelites were parading, blowing trumpets, and so on. Sing songs and praise Him, worship Him, pray the Rosary. Do whatever it takes to kick our old self, reborn anew, strong and good, at least better.

Rely on God. In order for us to be good, we must become small so He can be big. Search the meaning and answer in God, not into us. What good is digging deep onto us if we are lost and looking for a way? We will only get lost in our own thought and maybe, even got ourselves into worse shape than before. It's like we know we are sick and rely on self diagnose instead of going see a doctor. To get our life right, we need a precise and solid beacon for our bearing, a wise advisor. Use Him, rely on Him, ask Him for support and help for He is kind and loving to us.

Even something that seems good can be utterly destructive if abused. Be very careful in discerning what is good and what is bad. Sometimes the difference is just depending on the person or situation. This is why we have to ask the Lord for His guidance and the wisdom of this world is often wrong, even misleading. Think of it this way, even medicine has to be dispensed according to the severity of the sickness, the physical fitness of the patient, age, weight, and a whole lot of plethora to make sure it works optimally. Even the same disease would require different medicine in a different person, at least different doses. This is why doctors study for years to make sure we get the best treatment. If it is so easy, everyone would be self-diagnosed and self-medicating. Plenty fall victim to self-medication and self misdiagnosis.

Personally, there are many improvements in my life that I can credit God 100% for all of them beyond my personal power. From my health to my family and these writings. When I was unhealthy, I prayed and He put me up with the right cure, the right doctor besides my regular doctor. It's not that my regular doctor is not competent, just that for my certain illness, I need a different doctor that knows the cure.

He enabled me. He put me on the right program from Youtube to Spotify, great teachers now are so easily available over the Internet (my personal fave, Scott Hahn from St. Paul Center), reading the Bible is easy as audio Bible is available (I love audio Bible during my morning bike ride, just our time, me and Dad), searching information on nutrition, training, and spiritual guide is just a search away. Everything is so abundantly available and more of them available due to lockdown since a lot of pastors now post and share deep theology. What a blessing, it is a bliss to learn and study with such great teachers daily.

I pray that you all use our abundant blessings and resources wisely and for the betterment of our life. Make this year the beginning of the best year for the rest of your life.

Have a blessed week and please do share this article if you find it interesting. You never know who will be blessed, God bless.