Unpublished -- 2012 Resolution

I found this unpublished draft today and I decided to post it since it is a topic that I need to be reminded over and over again -- to defy the human tendency to be self-centered.  

Every time we put away our Christmas ornaments, it is our family tradition to write down our desired goals for the new year and then keep them in a small red box.  Next Christmas would be the next time that we see these written goals again.  Every year I find out that I failed.  But we do anyway.  The desire to achieve new goals is there but the persistence and perseverance are often lacking.  I heard Rick Warren say that it is not your beginning but your middle performance that brings success. 

What is your New Year's resolution for 2012?  The most common answer to this question on this part of the world would often be focused improving the physical body.  My sister told me she wants to reduce her carbohydrates (rice) intake.  Most people desire to change their physical activities, change eating habits, take on new hobbies to improve their mental or emotional well being.  These are all very good goals.  In fact I plan to set aside some days of the week when I would deliberately skip one meal.  I thought this would be a way to maintain if not reduce my weight a little.  After all, for all of us who believe in Jesus Christ, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  It is but proper to keep it in shipshape.  However, our bodies should not be the end of the goals we set for the year.  That would be vain and meaningless. 

Looking Beyond Self.  All the getting-fit-and-healthy goals are self centered if they end there.  Instead, these goals count better when they are used as means to change the world around us.  We do not change the world by providing them a lean and muscular body to look at.  Neither do we change it by providing them the opposite view.  We were commanded to love others as we love ourselves.  If we take care of our own interest and neglect those of the people God put around us then we are going the wrong direction. 

Therefore, I resolve to express my love for God by pushing myself to invest more thoughts and action on the interest of others.