We’re a month into the New Year and, indeed, what about those resolutions?! “I’ve already broken one,” my friend Lynn
lamented as we walked into a meeting. Wondering what he’d done, I asked. “I had a Voodoo donut,” he explained. That led us into a discussion about their type, size, flavors – jelly filled, bacon, maple – for starters.
Marty Coffin Evans 2024
At that day’s meeting, I shared suggested resolutions from Today Is Mind by Leroy Brownlow, a book gifted to me years ago. Shortly afterwards, our leader pointed out I’d already broken a resolution. Hmm, I wondered only to learn Brownlow’s “To put first things first” was really the second one instead of the reverse.
The first resolution read “To forget past mistakes and press on to greater achievements.” Without having Brownlow to ask about his ordering, it seems with a new year, putting those past mistakes behind us makes sense. We’re into another year full of opportunities and achievements should we chose to take and/or pursue them.
Often resolutions focus on diet and exercise as the most prominent ones. Interestingly enough, of Brownlow’s 16 “I am resolved:” neither food nor exercise make the list. Those which do emphasize our own actions such as spending time with
another, being a friend to all, avoiding criticizing others, making work a joy, thinking the best, smiling, looking ahead and keeping moving. As is his book’s format for 365 days, after each daily message, an associated quotation is provided along with a scriptural passage. At the conclusion of the January 1 page, he included a quotation from Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790).
The following words by Franklin offer good advice for us as we consider our own resolutions, whether written or only thought: “Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.”
Martha (Marty) Coffin Evans, Ed.D., freelance writer with MACE Associates, LLC, can be reached at itsmemartee or on her website martycoffinevans.com.