James C. Bryant, 32°, K.C.C.H.
1470 Leafmore Place, Decatur, Georgia 30033–2023

While aspiring to the ideal in our New Year's resolutions, let's remember that failing just gives us another chance to try again.

Some of us can sympathize with the poor guy who wrote the following New Year's resolutions over a period of years as reported by Marcia Scott in The Funnies Mailing List:

Resolution #1
1997 I will read at least 20 good books a year.
1998 I will read at least 10 good books a year.
1999 I will read 5 books a year.
2000 I will finish reading Airport.

Resolution #2
1997 I will get my weight down below 180.
1998 I will watch my calories until I get below 190.
1999 I will follow my new diet religiously until I get below 200.
2000 I will try to develop a realistic attitude about my weight.

When we make New Year's resolutions, we have good intentions to follow them completely; but, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, as the poet Brother Robert Burns put it long ago. So, let's be realistic about the New Year and what we're going to change about ourselves in it. Otherwise, we program ourselves for a lot of needless pressure and frustration.

For one thing, let's not expect too much of ourselves. The ancient Greek motto "Know Thyself" should be remembered. By knowing ourselves, we also know what we're capable of, and we won't program ourselves for defeat. A mediocre singer cannot become a Metropolitan Opera star simply by writing a resolution to practice more.

Second, let's not take ourselves too seriously. We can make room for some humor at our own expense, and we can laugh at our contradictions and follies without hurting our self-esteem. An overweight freshman recently told his classmates that he was such an outstanding basketball player back in his small hometown that he believed he was ready to join the men's team. Self-deprecating humor can keep us from taking ourselves too seriously. The Kansas Legislature at one of its early meetings passed a resolution saying, "We should not take ourselves too damn serious." The grammar was wrong, but the spirit was right.

Third, let's make room for failure. Nobody is perfect. We're bound to make mistakes in judgment, behave inappropriately, and make a fool of ourselves sometime during this new year. So, lighten up and make room for mistakes.

Fourth, let's remind ourselves that God is a God of second chances, and when we come up short at the end of the year, not having kept the good resolutions we intended to keep, God gives us a second chance to get it right. When the schoolboy in the one-room country school ruined his composition by spilling ink on it, the schoolteacher said gently, "Turn the page and start over." The loving Father in Heaven didn't make any of us perfect, although it's an ideal to be wished for and for which we should strive by constant self-improvement. But when we fail and acknowledge our mistakes, He says simply, "Turn the page and do better, my child."

James C. Bryant is an ordained minister and a frequent speaker who is currently Special Assistant to the President and University Historian at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. The author of several books and articles, he is the Chaplain of Yaarab Shrine Temple in Atlanta and editor of the Basharat, Yaarab Temple's popular monthly magazine.