On New Year's Eve, Daniel was in no shape to drive, so he sensibly left his van in the car park and walked home. As he was wobbling along, he was stopped by a policeman. "What are you doing out here at four o'clock in the morning?" asked the police officer.
"I'm on my way to a lecture," answered Daniel.
"And who on earth, in their right mind, is going to give a lecture at this time on New Year's Eve?" enquired the constable sarcastically.
"My wife," slurred Daniel grimly.
I can guess what should be included in Daniel's New Year's Resolutions. What a wonderful opportunity we have to start a New Year and get freed from all the baggage and hindrances of the old year which may have been dragging us down in ways we don't always admit, at least not publicly.
In Homilies for Everyday Life Father Rudolph Novecosky shares three little New Year's Resolution for a child of God: PULL BACK, PICK UP and PUT DOWN.
In PULL BACK he suggests we start slowly on this one, like pick one day each month to "suspend all judgements". So on the second Tuesday of each month, for example, we would avoid judging, avoid criticism and send out love instead.
Love will come back to us, he suggests. And love is a better force than anger in his second suggestion PICK UP. Pick up worthwhile endeavours that others have started. M.A.D.D., Mothers Against Drunk Driving, is an example he chooses. Instead of letting anger destroy them, mothers and students have formed positive action support groups.
Another example is Sadaku, a Japanese girl who saw her family killed in the Hiroshima bombing. She suffered severe radiation burns. Her plan of action: "This can never happen again," she said. "People can't be this cruel." Each day she made a white paper crane and sent it to someone, asking them to be a disciple of peace. She did this for 683 days and then she died.
PUT DOWN, Novecosky's third resolution, is to put down last year's garbage. He tells the story of Alice, who confided to her new workplace friend how much she hated her old boss. Alice laughed, "Forget him. Why not just enjoy it here?"
Then she told Alice her own story. When she moved a few years ago she asked the movers to just move everything to her new house. When she unpacked, she literally saw everything. In her new house she now had her furniture, her trash bins, her empty ketchup bottles, grapefruit peels
We are in a beautiful New Year, Novecosky concludes. "Leave your garbage, your emotional garbageangers, hurts and disappointments behind." If we can do these three things PULL BACK from judgement, PICK UP on the positive and PUT DOWN our emotional garbage, we will have a Happy New Year.
