My January Yoga class roster was nestled in my mailbox at the Y. For the past 10 years, the January roster is filled with new names. Names that disappear in February.

I don’t think I’ve heard as much about New Years Resolutions as usual in general. Are people tired of them?

There was not one new name on the list. And only one new person showed up Tuesday.

Are we getting tired of the ever-cheerful, enthusiastic, goal-setting gurus?

Maybe instead of Proverbs in January (I read chapter 4 today, good thoughts there), we should look at the path laid out in Romans.

We are all sinners–>God offers us grace–>we accept–>we proceed to study and practice how to live.

John Fischer is exploring what church would be like if we adopted the AA 12-step model.

“I’m Gary, and I’m a sinner.”

“Hi Gary. Tell us your story.”

“I have now lived a year in grace, but this week I struggled with a sin.”

We are here to help you find grace today and stop living a sinful life (i.e., stay sober).

Dallas Willard pointed out years ago that church was the hardest place to practice that.

Back to the new year. What if we began the year realizing where we actually are. Then we see a path and seek help. Then we practice daily.

Maybe the first resolution comes from Proverbs 4:

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

And add

Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.

There are few things that you do for your body as good as a good night’s sleep.

The kind of sleep where you awaken refreshed. You have energy. You’re ready for the day ahead.

There are many tips out there in the Internet for getting a good sleep. Turn off your phone/tablet/computer. Don’t watch the news just before bed. Drink a glass of water. Get sufficient exercise during the day, but not just before bed time.

God has something to say about this. Check it out in the third chapter of Proverbs. I guess we’d call it a clear conscience. We have incorporated Wisdom into our daily life. We have served where we can. Avoided those we should avoid.

“My child, do not let these escape from your sight:

keep sound wisdom and prudence,

and they will be life for your soul

and adornment for your neck.

Then you will walk on your way securely

and your foot will not stumble.

If you sit down, you will not be afraid;

when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.”

Happy New Year

Praying for a year of peace and justice.

Are you the kind of person who makes New Year’s Resolutions?

Either the week of January 8 or January 15 will witness my Yoga class attendance double in size.

By the week of January 29, back to normal.

I have experienced this for 16 years.

Sometimes there is a second rush the second week of February for a week when the procrastinators get around to joining the Y.

I once followed the self-help gurus’ advice. I can remember the list of 10 or so goals I’d write in my planner every January. My weight never came down. I never wrote that (unspecified) book. I didn’t become president of the company (kept working for companies that went out of business or had closed ownership).

Then I digested the New Testament.

What kind of person do you want to be? This is where you begin. Maybe put a couple of pictures at your desk or inside your journal. Or visualize someone.

When you make decisions during the year, bring that picture to mind. Here are a couple of suggestions.

“I am a fit and healthy person.” Then when faced with a decision about going to the gym or not, see the picture. Or faced with a decision of what to eat, make the right choice. Decisions establish habits. Proper habits keep us on track.

“I am a person who constantly learns.” So I read a lot. From a large variety of authors, subjects, fields.

Finally, be a grateful person. I just heard Michael Hyatt quote someone, “You won’t get what you want until you are grateful for what you have.”

See you in 2018.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Four separate accounts of the life of Jesus.

They are distinct in their approaches. They all agree on the person–Jesus.

I love the directness of Mark and the straightforward history of Luke. If you know someone who is new to faith and asks, “What is it about this Jesus dude?”, then suggest they read one or both of these. [By the way, I’d follow them up with Romans. Jesus introduces us to the Spirit. Paul in his letter to the followers in Roman lays out the path of our spiritual formation.]

DO NOT send a new person to John.

I love John. It is the most deeply spiritual and theological of the four. He sucks you into a deep dive into the meaning of many words–light, the world, “I Am”, true light, eternal life (the only definition in the New Testament), love, the Father.

John also deals frankly with the opposition–the world, Jews, Pharisees.

I mentioned yesterday that I am reading Walter Issacson’s biography of Einstein.

Einstein was born in Germany and lived in Berlin for something like 20 years. He was also born a Jew. He was not religious. He was, however, a member of the tribe (as he once put it).

As Issacson describes the cultural climate in the late 1910s and the 1920s, we begin to understand the German dislike (hatred?) of Jews. This, by the way was not new. When I was studying Marx’s thought prior to Das Kapital, I ran across an essay Die Judenfrage (the Jewish Question) written in 1848.

This helps to understand the thinking of the very influential German New Testament scholars of that period who tried to remove the Jewishness of the writings. With John, it seemed easy because the writing seemed Greek with the use of Logos, the Word. But that is actually a mistake. John was quite Jewish. In fact, looking at his apocalyptic work, The Revelation, with understanding of Jewish Temple worship and Jewish thinking will lead you away from the errors of so many interpretations.

Sometimes reading just relaxes the brain. Sometimes it expands our understanding.

Write someplace you’ll see daily, This year I will be a reader.

The running around, stress, parties, families are past now. Christmas was a couple of days ago.

Along with taking time for reflection about the past year and future year this week, I like to read. Something that will stretch me a little.

This year I’m finishing Walter Issacson’s biography of Albert Einstein. He’s returning me to the reasoning behind Special Relativity, General Relativity, the universal law of gravitation. And the beginnings of quantum theory.

Cool stuff.

It is not a bad thing for everyone to learn some science. Plus he had an interesting life.

Reading every day is a good thing. If you are not in the habit, begin picking up something to read at a set time every day. Read fiction and non-fiction. Science, philosophy, history, biography. I’m partial to detective novels and murder mysteries. These are habits I formed at least by age 10. And continue until today.

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but curiosity makes us grow.

I hope you all found a place to worship, celebrate, and be with family and/or friends.

We use “Merry Christmas” as a greeting. But one hopes that the merry part seeps inside.

We are in that week between the holidays. We build up to Christmas, many get time off from work or school, then we get to New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to celebrate a more ancient thankfulness of getting to another year.

I, as do many, use these days for a kind of relaxing. It is a good time to reflect on the experiences of the last year in the context of how we need to grow and change in the new year.

What did we learn in the last year?

Where can that point us to change in the new year?

• New career?
• Improved career?
• New relationships?
• New beginnings?
• New things to learn?
• New places to visit?
• Better health?

I quoted John Dewey recently about the importance of reflections on experience. Any time is a good time, but if you get this week “off”, it is a perfect time to set aside an hour or so a day to reflect, journal, visualize the coming year.

I don’t do the traditional “goal setting” of New Year’s Resolutions. But I still look at where I am and where I need to be. And where I can grow.

A salesman I knew was known for “Always be closing (a sale)”.

Make this year one of “Always be growing”.

How about giving yourself a gift that keeps on giving? Further, it benefits everyone around you.

The gift of health. At least, the best you can be.

I got this graphic from James Altucher. He’s weird. He interviews interesting people on his podcast show.

Thanks to him, I now listen to Shawn Stevenson. At 18 he was shown an x-ray of his spine. He had the spine of an 80-year-old. Eventually, he made a decision. He has a degree in nutrition. He started eating well. He started working out. He interviews people on The Model Health Show podcast.

Wonder what I listen to when I’m exercising?

You can make a decision.

Sometimes you need a trigger. I have a locker at the Y. Every work day that I’m in town I go to the gym. I meditate in the sauna. You only need 10-15 minutes of meditation to set up the entire day. The sauna is healthy. I shower and dress for the day. That’s the trigger. The Y is where I go to get ready for work.

This chart contains some good advice.

My gift to you. Merry Christmas.