Within our Christian community, a considerable number choose not to make their New Year's intentions official. This decision no doubt arises from various factors, one being the ubiquitous issue of time constraints. Our daily routines and numerous responsibilities leave limited time for reflection, planning, and goal execution.

Although we may have great aspirations, the real difficulty lies in turning those dreams into practical plans. One common issue is deciding between informal intention-setting and more structured goal-setting. Perhaps this reflects the idea that "the spirit is willing, but "the flesh is weak". Or, most likely, there are additional factors at play.

It could be simply a matter of not dedicating enough time to take the steps required for more formalized goal setting.

In some cases, it could just be that our hopes or aspirations for the next year are simply that: a silent or openly voiced intention, a wish, a dream or a hope.

Either way, it could be a challenge to turn our unspoken or unofficial aspirations into practical and achievable plans. Official New Year's resolutions have a very low success rate. So that leaves me to wonder how well the unofficial aspirations, hopes and dreams fare. But that's a subject for another time. If I get around to it... I hope to... 

In this article, I'm going to explore and speculate about the 'why' behind unofficial goals. I'm going out on a limb and will postulate that perhaps as Christians, when it comes to goal setting, we may struggle with trying to find a balance between being grounded on earth and having our minds set on things above.

The Interplay Between Spiritual Piety and the Human Struggle in New Year Aspirations

I can think of some possible reasons why we humans may opt for the unofficial approach to setting intentions or making wishes or goals for the New Year. I suspect there could be hints of any of these reasons for keeping our goals unofficial or perhaps to keep them to ourselves. If someone were to ask us, we might offer any of the following explanations and rationalizations:

These are all seemingly very valid reasons why we might prefer unspoken, private or quiet resolves to change something or aim for something in the next year.

Consider next the following revision of the same approaches, with slightly different reasons. If truth be told and we were to 'fess up to ourselves, might there be some truth to these also? Be prepared for a bit of irony and not-so-subtle humour, and realize that I’m including myself in this list of justifications and foibles that we humans are prone to when it comes to setting intentions, at New Year's or any other time.

We may find hints of ourselves in both versions of these lists if we’re being honest. The rationalization in both lists might be both self-convincing and self-convicting. This might reflect the delicate balance we, as Christians, may find ourselves struggling to manage. It’s an ongoing dance between keeping ourselves grounded on the earth in our daily realities and wanting to keep our minds on things that are above. So, we might find ourselves perhaps using pious spiritual reasoning while acknowledging our human tendency to falter, which sometimes comes across as weak attempts to justify or even fool ourselves. We constantly juggle our genuine desire to reflect our new nature and show true piety while the struggle with our old nature remains very real.

As I think about why we humans, particularly as Christians, may not express our goals and aspirations or make them official, it occurs to me that we may be struggling between lofty spiritual and practical reasoning and weak moral character.

So, it could, for example, be a lack of time (physical reality) AND wanting to let God write the page of the next year (spiritual truth) AND failure to take the time to reflect and make a renewed commitment (justifying our old nature). The practical realities of life are very real and need to be considered, and so are the spiritual truths and realities. So we're off the hook, right? We do the best we can, so it's best just to keep things unofficial, we might reason.

We can couch the reasons for not being more intentional in setting goals or commitments in all kinds of pious rationalizations, which may contain within them elements of truth. But our rationalizations may also ring hollow, as they may disguise a bit of the struggle with our old nature: the new Adam showing the beginnings of sanctification but still fighting with the old Adam - a struggle that will continue as long as we are alive in our fallen mortal bodies. 

Lingering Questions

As individuals guided by Christian principles, we may struggle to articulate and formalize our goals. This may be partly due to the challenge of navigating the dance between the spiritual and practical aspects of our lives. On the one hand, we have limited time to reflect deeply on our aspirations; on the other, we need to commit to achieving them. We may justify our reluctance to set clear goals by thinking we are doing our best amidst life's complexities. However, is this reasoning truly accurate, or might it be a comfortable refuge from the demands of intentional goal-setting?

This leaves me with some lingering questions, which you might be asking as well:

• Should we make it a practice to reflect at the end of the year whether there are areas where we should renew our commitment to our Christian walk of life? 
• Is the work that's required for official goal-setting and setting intentions part of what it takes to develop a stronger moral character?
• Do we sometimes use physical and spiritual realities and truths to justify and explain the weaknesses of our old nature?
• What are the impacts on ourselves and others when we don't manage well the tensions of living life grounded on the earth, with our minds set on things above?
• Would it be helpful to make space for goal setting when there is a transition marked by the physical act of turning to a new calendar?

Wrapping it up...

Reflecting on why we might refrain from voicing resolutions and whether it might be partly due to a clash between pious spiritual reasoning and moral shortcomings left me with lingering questions. And that led me to wonder whether we can learn something from earlier generations of believers.

Considering the reasons for and against setting intentions for the future, I wonder if we could look to the wisdom and insights that can be gleaned from the experiences of those in ancient and not-so-ancient times.

How did they manage the struggle between the aspirations of the new self and the lingering shadows of the old self?

How did they manage the tensions of living with both feet on the ground and their minds set on things above?

Questions, questions!! I have lots - and what about you? Join the conversation! Check the options below this post.

Join me in the next post, where I'll explore this further. 

Until then, stay curious.