Thought for the Month January 2025

Here we are again at the start of a New Year, 2025, New Year’s resolutions abound, people are full of hope, anticipation and good intentions… well at least some will be. Others at the other end of the spectrum will be gripped by anxiety, full of fear, their anticipation more a resignation that nothing will change and a feelings of hopelessness.

It some ways it seems strange how a simple change in the date can evoke such feelings, whether they be of hope or resignation. When it comes to hope and positive desires to change things in our lives, New Year is not the only time that can produce this effect. For Christians, Christmas Day and Easter weekend will often create the same feelings, and no doubt various festival dates in other faiths will do the same. I’m not against New Year resolutions as such, sometimes we need a trigger point to get us moving. But I often find myself questioning their usefulness, given how many get broken! The result being that I, like many people, come to a point where we say ‘I’m not going to make any resolutions because I’ll only break them in the end.’  The danger here is that we never change, we just carry on with our ‘same old ways,’ some of which could do with being changed! It seems to me that one of the problems with New Year is that society places such a high importance, such a significance on it (something commercial enterprises are happy to exploit) that people are somehow coerced into thinking they must make equally grand resolutions, changes and gestures, most of which will be doomed to failure. So how should we view New Year resolutions, how should make them and how do we keep them?

The first thing perhaps is not to restrict them to one day a year, every day, every moment is an opportunity for change. It’s worth considering our motives, whether they are selfish or altruistic, remembering that any changes we make in our lives will impact those around us and maybe even those further afield – including the people I mentioned at the start, resigned to feelings of anxiety and hopelessness (See below). Ideally, making any resolution to change should start prayerfully. What we’re talking about here is not simply an intellectual exercise, it requires something else. Meaningful change requires a change of mind-set, a change of heart, a change of direction. John the Baptist called on people to repent and follow the one who would come after him, Jesus, whose teachings about love, compassion, forgiveness, service and sacrifice are the things that can bring about the sort of change so many cry out for, especially in the troubled times in which we live.

If you are going to make a resolution today because you want or need to, I pray God will guide you and that He will bless you and give you His peace, today and every day.

Happy New Year!

If you are one of those people struggling, as hard as it may seem, every day is an opportunity for you too, but you don’t have to do it alone, please ask for help. Below are some suggestions of organisations that may be able to help, or guide you to those that can. And I pray too that God will guide, strengthen and bless you, and give you His peace now and always.

General help and advice : Citizens Advice Bureau – 0800 144 8848

Mental Wellbeing : MIND – 01206 764 600

Homelessness : SANCTUS – 01245 257 985

Desperation : SAMARITANS – 0330 094 5717

Hunger : Trussell Trust – 01245 200 579