Resolutions for 2016! I am resolved...

Well, we will be walking away from 2015 and welcoming 2016 in just a few hours.  Have you thought your resolutions for the coming year?  I certainly have, especially recently.  Let’s see. 

1.    Follow God’s word in James 1:19.  Boy do I need to improve on this.  I will.

2.    Pray.  Every day.  Morning, noon, and night.  Without ceasing.  God asks me to.  When I pray He promises to hear, consider, and answer according to His will.   Just do it.  I will.

3.    Think.  Meditate.  Focus.  On His word day and night (Psalm 1).  There are so many distractions.  So many “other things” to think about that are less important.  I will have a more intense focus on the “main thing.”

4.    Listen.  I don’t listen very well.  I will become a better listener.

5.    Wait.  I am too quick to judge, to just to conclusions, to misunderstand.  I must wait.  I’m not talking about procrastination.  I am talking about being patient.

6.    Humility.  Jesus taught by word and example that humility pleases the Father.  I want to be like Jesus; quiet, strong, wise, patient, kind, right.

7.    Follow when I should.  Lead when I should.  Understand.

8.    Forget what was.  Accept what is.  Imagine and create what can be.

I am resolved no longer to linger, charmed by the world’s delight;

Things that are higher, things that are nobler, these have allured my sight.

I am resolved to go to the Savior, leaving my sin and strife;

He is this True One, He is the Just One, He is has the words of life.

I am resolved to follow the Savior, faithful and true each day,

Heed what is says, do what He wills, He is the living Way.

I am resolved to enter the kingdom, leaving the paths of sin,

Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me, still will I enter in.

I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free,

Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.

Palmer Hartsough (1896)

James H. Fillmore (1896)