To those who say they don’t “do resolutions”, I have to ask, why not? What is not to like about a resolution? I always welcome a chance to start again. That is the very definition of hope! It’s like saying I’m not going to celebrate my birthday because it’s just gonna come around again next year.
Isn’t that the beauty of it? Yes, it comes around every January. And no, I can’t remember my resolutions from last year (actually, the unfortunate consequence of blogging is that my resolutions from 2014 are there for me and anyone else to see- yikes). But it doesn’t really matter. A resolution is a very here-and-now thing. It’s present day. It’s knowing yesterday is gone. Today is a new day. And it’s a new year!
Phillip Rivers, San Diego Chargers quarterback, at a May 2014 graduation speech
I love what San Diego Charger’s quarterback, Phillip Rivers told 1,550 students who were graduating from Catholic University last May. As their graduation speaker, he told them that he had chosen the Latin phrase “Nunc Coepi” as his motto. It means…Now I Begin. He said, “Nunc Coepi….it certainly applies to you graduates who now are beginning the next chapter in your lives. You now begin. But this is ongoing. You begin again, and again and again. You never give up. Nunc Coepi.” He explained how his team also embraced the motto and had put the phrase on their t-shirts and on banners in the locker room because it meant so much to their mission. “Now I begin. In our prayer, in our habits, in our relationships, in our profession. It is applicable to everything. Nunc Coepi (Now I begin). Whether you made a bad grade or didn’t do so well on a project. You must begin again. When I have a bad play or a good play, whether I throw a touchdown or an interception, I must begin again“.
Rivers is on to something. Even the way God made us is synchronous with new beginnings. He created the day and the night. At the end of the day, we lay down and go to sleep. Our slumbering is a rest from yesterday. It’s a refresher for tomorrow. With the morning light, comes a new day. God knows we aren’t perfect, and yet He asks us to be (Therefore, you must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48). Every day is a new day to try again.
So go ahead and set your goals for 2015. Make those resolutions; whether it’s about fitness, weight loss, healthy living, spiritual renewal, or getting organized. Check out this Wall Street Journal article about a guy who has had the same resolution for the past 40 years… to run every day. And he’s never broken it. Mine has little to do with fitness, actually. It’s to read more. I have all these books next to my bed and I can never get through them. So this year I am determined to read them. My concrete goal? At least 2 books a month.
Whatever your resolution, commit to it. Decide to start again. And then go do it. The only day you have in front of you is today. I say, go for it. Nunc Coepi!
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