Our Sincere Resolves

“There are times when we have a … feeling of turning over a new leaf, of getting a fresh start,…[with] a more or less definite determination [to be better]…Later [we may] repent of our repentance.”

These words written more than a half century ago remind us “of the many failures to carry out the contracts [the commitments] people have made with themselves… This is the time of danger, when the strength of our resolution is put to the test. If we give way…we lose ground;… To lose confidence in other people is disheartening, to lose the confidence of other people is painful, but to lose confidence in [ourselves] is fatal.”¹ And this could come from attempting too much, from resolving too rashly. Sudden impulses, extreme statements, impetuous proposals, the sudden solemn swearing that we will do this if it’s the last thing we do – such impulsive resolves we often fail to follow through. It is often better to do calmly and quietly what we can, rather than loudly to proclaim we will do more than is reasonable possible. “It is [as] important to keep the promises you make to yourself [as] those you make”¹ to others.

Yet even when good resolves are rashly made, without an inward readiness, or without full knowledge of facts, they should not suddenly be abandoned. They should not be cast aside at the first time we face “the very temptation they were intended to guard” ¹ against. It is not good to resolve rashly, and then rashly retreat from our resolve.

Consistency is the real shaper of character. Quiet determination to do better and be better is better than boastful words on what we are about to do.

God grant us the constancy of character to resolve what we should do, and to do what we should resolve.