When to be Resolved

I love it when God makes me laugh....mostly at myself. Anyone else ever notice that He has a great sense of humor? Like how, right after I write a big long blog post about how I like to set goals instead of resolving to do certain things - because resolving is too hard - that very day I get an email encouraging me to RESOLVE to Do Something in 2010.

And then this....yesterday I started a new Bible study with a group at church. We are doing Beth Moore's study of Daniel. I've done it before, but didn't get through all the homework so I wanted to do it again. It is an awesome study - so full of truth and wisdom that it bears repeating. The first half is about living with integrity in the "Babylon" that we live in, and the second half is about end-times prophecy.

I almost laughed out loud right in the middle of the video yesterday when Beth had us turn to Daniel 1:8, which says, "But Daniel resolved not to defile himself....."

It seems as though God is saying to me, "Valerie, look, goals are great. But there are times when you do in fact need to be willing to be resolved. Like resolving to Do Something when I have told you to. Like resolving not to be defiled by the world you are living in."

Serious times call for serious commitments. And sisters (if there are any brothers reading my blog, I'm not aware of it) , we are living in serious times. I think maybe it's ok to have a goal to stick to a new budget or floss your teeth every day, but the Bible doesn't say Daniel made it his GOAL not to be defiled by the culture of Babylon.....he resolved.

When it comes to the things of God, I need to be willing to stick my neck out, commit with my whole heart, quit sticking my toe in to test the water and just jump in.

I remember in high school and college I used to always tell people, "I don't make promises."

Why? Because it seemed that somehow I always ended up breaking them. And I hated that. I hate letting people down and feeling like a failure. And so I took the easy way out and just never made promises. But I think all that really did was leave me a way out in case for some reason I couldn't keep my end of the deal. Or didn't want to. Not great.

Wow, so really....I have to be resolved? That's HARD. And intimidating. And scary. What if I resolve and then break my promise? This is a whole new world for me. But the New Year is about change, right?

At least I'm on day 26 of flossing my teeth.