Beyond willpower

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Wednesday, January 7th.

Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

Well, intentions aside, the new year has already begun to tell the truth about us. Here’s WORLD’s Janie B. Cheaney on change that does not depend on perfect follow-through.

JANIE B. CHEANEY: January 1 is notable for gym memberships opened. January 7 is equally notable for gym attendance drop offs. By some estimates, when the end of the month rolls around, less than half of the new members are still showing up to work out.

The same might be true of your resolution to cut back on sugar, or read one book per week, or to call your mom more often.

January 1st looks no different from December 31st. Starting the year in mid winter is only a tradition going back to the Roman Republic and the Julian calendar. Why should a month named for Janus, the pagan god of new beginnings, have any influence on a Christian?

Well, it just does. There’s something about hanging a new calendar and clearing the books that pushes us toward trying to do better, and there’s something about human nature that resists. Improvement, when it comes, is mostly a matter of gradual steps, rather than dramatic leaps.

This shouldn’t surprise us. The Christian life is often described as a walk, as being rooted and grounded, as slowly conforming to the image of Our Lord, and we are transformed as much by circumstances we can’t control as by those we can.

That’s not to say that resolutions are worthless, only that we may need to trim our expectations. Arthur Brooks suggests that dieting and exercise resolutions fail because they don’t pay off right away. It takes time to see the results on your scale or waistline, time that eats away your good intentions.

Resolutions that offer an immediate hit of happiness are more likely to succeed. And by happiness, he doesn’t mean every guilt laden spoonful of midnight ice cream. Brooks studies happiness for a living, and believes it’s mostly a matter of fine tuning one’s outlook.

He recommends two resolutions anyone can make and anyone can keep: First, to forgive. Second, to be grateful. God has the same idea, but not in that order. Forgiveness can be complicated, but gratitude is simple.

We can truly forgive only when we are forgiven. To be thankful, we just need to open our eyes. Gratitude is the oil that enables the Christian virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, harmony and love.

Colossians 3:15 adds “and to be thankful” to all these qualities as though it were an afterthought. But gratitude is often the first step to a renewed spiritual life.

Does that mean giving thanks for a cancer diagnosis? First Thessalonians 5:18 says to give thanks in all circumstances, not necessarily for all circumstances. Bad news is bad from any angle, but God knows how to bring good out of evil. That’s his specialty.

Gratitude begins with acknowledging how he brought you and me out of evil, and from there it’s grace upon grace. Arthur Brooks recommends listing five things you’re grateful for at the beginning of the year, adding two more each week and taking time every day to rehearse your list.

That’s sound advice for anyone. But no one has more reason for thankfulness than a child of God.

Happy New Year. I’m Janie B. Cheaney.

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