Making meaningful New Year’s resolutions for 2021

Kim Roberts, NOLA Catholic Parenting

Throughout the course of 2020, as days turned into weeks and then months of lock-downs and mask-wearing and restrictions were added to our way of life, we all held out hope that something magical would happen at midnight ushering in 2021.

Maybe, it would end the pandemic that disrupted every aspect of our lives.

Well, New Year’s Eve came and went, and our country is worse for wear at the moment without a known end in sight.

As I considered my resolutions for the new year, I was reminded of the verse “Watch and pray, for you do not know the hour when the Master of the house will return” (Matthew 25:13). I realized that my resolutions needed to be more thoughtful and faith-based than ever before.

Living in some seriously tough times, we are finding out what we are made of and where we draw strength from. Where does it come from? Not from quarantine snacks or social media but from God.

I decided that for 2021, I would prepare my heart to rely on him for strength to withstand hurricanes, pandemics, threats to the family unit, unemployment, illness, attacks on our faith, questionable and even fatal politicians and anything this new year will throw at me.

After what we lived through in 2020, virtually anything is possible.

We should make resolutions because we have faith and hope that our belief in Christ can lead us to peace of mind and salvation. I’m even planning to involve my entire family to renew our spirituality in an effort to better function as the chaos of the country rages around us.

Regularly attending Mass, in person or online – and maybe adding an extra service each week – would be a great resolution for all of us. Adding Bible study throughout the year is another goal I’ve set for 2021. Since sitting down and reading the Bible isn’t something I regularly do, and I know I should, I was introduced to a fabulous podcast with Father Mike Schmitz that will cover the Bible in a year and is so easy to listen to and follow.

In the new year, I feel like I need to connect with others and renew friendships in person and nurture and appreciate those in my life whom I have the privilege to call friends.

As the restrictions lift, I plan to be mindful of getting back into the rat race and still keeping the good that came from lock-downs with my family. We have shared more home-cooked meals together, binge-watched shows and movies and just plain talked and spent time at home together. I have loved that aspect of the pandemic and plan to maintain it for sure.

I have tried to make my resolutions for 2021 in a more thoughtful way and, at the same time, pleasing to God. Even though the act of New Year’s resolutions is a secular tradition, it can be done in a way that transforms our lives and souls for the better.

So, here’s to making 2021 a year that we grow closer to God and learn to rely on him for strength in all things – including pandemics and an uncertain, scary political environment.