It will soon be January, and at the beginning of a new year, we often think of making some “new year resolutions.” What do I want to accomplish this year? How do I want to change? What could I do better?
Recently my reunion group friend and I have been discussing the examination of conscience (for more information see Examination of Conscience). We both agree that our biggest problem is not doing sinful things, but doing good things with a poor attitude. We can do our Christian duty while grumbling, becoming impatient or feeling aggrieved. I’ve been praying to improve, and this quote from my daily devotional describes well the way I hope to behave with the help of the Holy Spirit.
“That is what our sacrifice of ourselves should be –‘full of life.’ Not desponding, morbid, morose; not gloomy, chilly, forbidding; not languid, indolent, inactive; but full of life, and warmth, and energy; cheerful and making others cheerful; gay, and making others gay; happy and making others happy; contented and making others contented; doing good and making others do good, by our lively vivid vitality,–filling every corner of the circle in which we move, with the fresh life-blood of a warm, genial, kindly Christian heart. Doubtless this requires a sacrifice; it requires us to give up our own comfort, our own ease, our own firesides, our dear solitude, or own favorite absorbing pursuits, our shyness, our reserve, our pride, our selfishness.”
Arthur P. Stanley
Lutheran Ladies Connection 