Welcome to 2025
Let us celebrate the blessings of life in the new year
As we enter the beginning of a new year, there is much talk about making a clean slate, much focus about making a change in our lives, and of course making New Year’s resolutions such as losing weight, starting a healthy diet, establishing a consistent exercise routine, saving some “dough” for a long overdue vacation, and more. All this is to improve what we failed to do in prior years. While all of this is wonderful because these actions inspire and propel us to change our not-so-great habits, we should be careful and mindful not to forget the lessons we learned from the “old.” As the saying goes—new is not always better than old. Great lessons can be taken from both.
Planning and creating our New Year’s resolution goals brings a lot of excitement and is something we all look forward to. Let us make sure we can meet them. Too often, we make unreasonable resolutions year-after-year knowing we will fail at the beginning of the year. If it makes you feel better—you are not alone in these yearly traditions of unmet resolutions. Traditionally, there are cultures and countries around the world that have all sorts of customs when it comes to ensuring a prosperous and bountiful new year. For example, in our home country the Philippines, it is said to be good luck to “wear polka dots while celebrating New Year.” Danes in contrast, considered a good fortune to jump off a chair or sofa at midnight after a few drinks (do not try this tradition if you had a few San Miguel beers). And in the American South, black-eyed peas and collard greens are two of the luckiest dishes you can eat. These are just some of the silly and fun superstitious New Year’s resolution traditions yet to bear fruit in our lives.
On a more serious note, let us celebrate the New Year for the many blessings we experienced this past year and always be mindful of the needs of others who are less fortunate. Let us make our New Year’s resolutions centered on others. Here are a few suggestions to consider as you plan to make your New Year’s resolution:
• Extend kindness.
• Be forgiving especially to those who wronged us.
• Be generous in our giving to those who are less fortunate.
• Extend a listening ear to those in need of a friend.
• Visit a loved one.
• Extend compassion.
• Be a good neighbor.
• Extend a helping hand.
• Extend love to all.
Let us be a change agent for good in 2025 and beyond by subscribing to the above list of suggested resolutions. When we collectively do these—we allow us to celebrate the many blessings of a good life in many years to come. Let us “commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” (Proverbs 16:3). God Bless everyone!
