I have a theory that new year’s resolutions are better called ‘new year’s confessions’. Generally new year’s resolutions are us saying ‘I really suck at XYZ and I want to change something about my life. This is where I am failing.’

Of course most people also know that new year’s resolutions are typically short lived and we tend to fall back into old patterns fairly easily.

Do you ever wonder why that is?

If there was one thing most of us would love to be able to do it is make a decision to change our behaviour and the stick to it.

I am wary of making any ‘resolutions’ these days partly because I know I am setting myself up for failure, but also because I want to make changes regularly – not just at the end of a calendar year. I have noticed that change becomes more difficult with age and that habits become more ingrained. But if we can make ‘change’ and conformity to Christ an ‘ingrained pattern/habit’ then we have hope

Without the grace of God and the camaraderie of others on the road of discipleship I am left with sheer will-power, and often I am not that ‘willing’ to do the things that need to be done.