Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
And so it begins, a new calendar year, a great time to take stock of where we are and where we desire to be. And whee! 
With Lent beginning just six weeks from tomorrow, if we mess up now, there’s a fresh opportunity to start over then as well.
For the new year and for Lent, many of us make lists of resolutions and sacrifices and giving, in many cases the same lists as last year, and the year before:
- Spend more time in prayer
- Be more respectful of my body by forgoing tobacco/alcohol/sugar/caffeine etc.
- Reflect Christ to those I find particularly difficult to love
- Increase donations of my time, talent, or treasure to ministry
- Believe that I am worthy of the Father’s love
Whether our resolutions are formalized or just written on our souls, whether they come on January, Ash Wednesday, or any other day of the year, they represent our embrace of the gift of continual conversion. They represent our desire not only to remain in Him, but to grow in Him. And when we grow in Him, we also grow in the confidence that when we fail as humans do, we need not despair. We have faith that when we seek forgiveness and begin anew, all things are possible.
